Gundam SEED Destiny: Eternal Freedom
by San 017
Summary: CH 6 is UP!  3 Months after the 2nd War Kira finds himself faced against SENTINEL the organization behind Durnandal, LOGOS and the very hate between Naturals and Coordinators. With the Freedom destroyed almost effortlessly can he win? KxL, AxC, SxL & more
1. Phase 1: The Fall Of a Legend

**Full Summary : **3 Months after the 2nd War ended Kira find himself faced against _SENTINEL_ the organization behind Durnandal, LOGOS, Blue Cosmos, Patrick Zala and the very hate between Naturals and Coordinators. With the Freedom destroyed in under a minute can Kira stand up to them? Can he protect Lacus? Will he be able to fulfill Via Hibiki's last wish? Can he finally bring peace or will he bring devastation to the world?

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><p><strong> PHASE 1 : The Fall of a Legend<strong>

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><p><strong>PRELUDE<strong>

_ 2 years after the second valentine war, the world had finally regained its peace once again, at-least thats what everyone thought had happened. 3 Months after the destruction of Neo-Genesis Kira Yamato decided to join ZAFT in order to stay close to Lacus as he was quite worried about the supporters of Patrick Zala or Chairman Durandal trying to assassinate her. Lacus's influence as the PLANT's new chairwoman and Kira's skills as an ace pilot easily placed him as a top ZAFT CommanderCommander within months of his induction although his identity as the Freedom's pilot was kept a secret. 10 Months after the war Kira was assigned his own personal squadron in-order to quell some of the resistance in ZAFT territory which was being carried out by lingering LOGOS forces. His squadron consisted of 5 Zaku Phantom's, 5 Ginn's and 5 Gouf's. Under his direct command he personally selected ace pilot and tactician Ryo Ardae as his 2nd in Command, Shinn Asuka and Lunamaria Hawke as his lieutenants equipping them once again with the ZGMF-42S Destiny and ZGMF-56S Impulse Gundam's. Furthermore the Yamato squadron was also assigned the newest ZAFT battleship the "Ptolemy" constructed by the PLANTS and ORB with state-of-the-art technology in-order to commemorate the peace between Naturals and Coordinators._

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><p><strong>C.E 76 Unknown Location on Earth (Present Day)<strong>

The sky was lit up with hundreds of flashes of red, yellow and white as the Strike Freedom fought against an unknown grey Gundam. Inside the freedom's cockpit Kira took deep breaths as he struggled to concentrate on the battle and stay conscious. He had been fighting for only about 3 hours but he felt a strange pressure emanating from the other gundam which seemed to drain the energy out of him. A heavy blow to his left shoulder snapped him out of his thoughts as he struggled to keep the Freedom in airborne. Through gap in the cloud cover he could make out some uninhabited islands below, this reassured him as now he would not have to worry about any collateral damage. Kira winced as he took another hit from the enemy's rail guns. Although the hits he took had considerable force, the freedom's armor for some strange reason only suffered moderate damage but Kira reasoned that it was thanks to its variable phase shift armor.

Shaking his head free of unnecessary thoughts Kira quickly boosted his thrusters and charged the enemy while taking out his beam saber simultaneously, no sooner did he do this the grey gundam shot a few more blasts from its rail guns and suddenly dropped down below the cloud cover. The freedom immediately followed him down, but as soon as he flew into the clouds, Kira realized his mistake as he saw the grey gundam waiting for him and fired its shoulder mounted rail guns at him once again. Blasting his front thrusters to maximum in an attempt to evade the enemy barrage, Kira tried to duck under the beam but the shot hit the Freedom's head, easily blowing it off and momentarily blinding Kira. Almost immediately grey gundam fired another barrage of blasts engulfing the freedom before it even got the chance to switch to its backup camera. Kira winced as a multitude of shots hit the freedom pushing it back down onto the ocean's surface, luckily Kira had managed to activate the freedoms beam shield in time to prevent any major damage.

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><p>Thats when things took a turn for the worse. Frustrated and angry Kira shouted out at the other gundam "Why the hell are you doing this? Who are you and why do you want to kill Lacus? What have I ever done to you? Who in the world are you? ANSWER ME!" ... Finally for the first time since the start of the battle the other pilot answered, "A dead man doesn't need to know anything and there is no way you're getting out of this alive, but then again where you're going it doesn't matter how much you do know, so let me tell you. My name is Rein Eim, pilot of the RX-104 Penelope Gundam. Im a member of <em>SENTINEL. <em>Our objective is to create a perfect world by helping the people evolve into greater species, humans without desires for power, humans who will condone violence and seek peace, humans who will known their place proper place in society" Kira listened shocked, memories of Chairman Durandal and his Destiny plan flashed by, "But thats crazy! you want to create a perfect world by removing human desire, how in the world is anything like that perfect?"

" Tsk Tsk Tsk, You seem to be confusing me with that traitor Durandal" said Rein, his voice cold and menacing, "He wanted to let both the naturals and coordinators live, but thats where he was wrong, just like you said it's not possible to remove human desires, but it is possible to shape them. And thats what we will do, we in _SENTINEL _will forge a new and perfect world from the ruins of a filthy and corrupted world like this... But for that to happen, first, we must remove the likes of you and that pink princess from the face of this planet !"

Kira barely had time to react as the Penelope fired its beam rifles and rail guns together. Kira dodged them using the extra maneuverability provided by the Freedom's Wings. In the Penelope's cockpit, Rein smirked as he said "Well lets end this little game and get serious shall we Kira Hibiki!... Let me see what the ultimate coordinator can do!" Kira was too shocked by hearing that name and barely had time to react as the Penelope changed colour from a metallic grey to a white, blue and red mobile suit. Rein said, "Let me show you the difference between an amateur and a veteran" and slowly in the back of his mind a black coloured seed exploded.

Slowly Kira grasped the reality of the situation as he realized that the Penelope was running on reserve power until now and it was only now that Rein had activated his Phase shift armor and switched into combat mode. The fact that so far Kira had not even managed to lay a scratch on it even with the Penelope in standby mode was more than enough to make him realize the power difference. This was only proven true when the Penelope fired a single shot from its beam rifle and even with the Freedom's beam shield, the arm was instantly blown clean off. Then before Kira even realized what had happened the Penelope boosted its thrusters and covered the distance between them in a flash, then using its beam saber it cut the legs off the Freedom in a single slash, causing the legs to explode between them. The Freedom reeling from the attack, spiraled down into the ocean, but just before it hit the surface Kira somehow managed to stabilize the mobile suit. He could hear Rein's cold laughter as he said "You're such a pathetic excuse for an ultimate coordinator, I dont know why Commander Banagher Links thinks of you as a danger to our plans. Before you die, let me demonstrate what the Penelope and _SENTINEL_ is truly capable of, witness the power of the Mega Particle Cannon!"

It did not take a genius to see that the Freedom had a very small chance of defeating the Penelope but in its current condition, Kira's death was almost assured. The images of Athrun, Cagalli, Mu, Murrue flashed through his mind, as he thought about how they would feel if they found out how he died, what would they do, what would Lacus do... Lacus... He had promised to protect her and the peace she had fought so hard for... Yet he had left her without saying a word and now he was going to die leaving her to fight the approaching battle with _SENTINEL _all alone. Suddenly as anguish overcame his mind and as tears flooded his eyes purple coloured seed exploded in his mind, and as soon as the Penelope fired its Mega Particle Cannon, Kira immediately boosted his thrusters turning the Freedom onto its side while he released simultaneously fired the DRAGOONS blinding Rein momentarily with multiple beams, while simultaneously Kira deactivated the Nuclear reactor and ejected out from the gundam's back and into the ocean, falling into the ocean below along with the DRAGOONS, to try and prevent Rein from knowing that he had ejected. The Penelope's shot barely grazed the chest, but the power was more than enough to melt the armor right off, instantly creating a huge cavity in the Freedom's chest. The force of the shot created by the impact was more than enough to plummel the freedom into a nearby Island.

Rein was absolutely delighted, not only had he finally gotten a chance to use his Particle Cannon but he had also killed the so called ultimate coordinator. He was surprised that the Freedom was still recognizable after all the damage it had taken but this would only speed up their plans so it was okay. Satisfied with the outcome of his mission, he transformed the Penelope into its mobile armor mode and flew back to base.

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><p><strong>C.E 76 Unknown Island on Earth (Present Day)<strong>

Kira slowly limped onto the beach and made his way back to Freedom or what was left of it. The sight alone was enough to make him wince as the once powerful mobile suit lay there as a giant heap of scrap metal. It had lost both of its legs, its right arm and head. Its left shoulder had taken heavy damage such that the left arm was almost dangling off of it. But worst of all was the cockpit area that had been utterly destroyed.

The Penelope's mega particle cannon had clearly melted the outer armor off the whole chest area and every thing inside, leaving only a half melted central support beam. Kira silently thanked himself for if he had not started the emergency nuclear reactor shutdown system, the resulting explosion would have blown him and the freedom to smithereens. Kira slumped onto the ground, exhausted and injured at the edge of the little crater formed by the freedom's crash impact. Even though ejecting had saved his life, he did not escape uninjured. He had a broken shoulder and probably a concussion caused from the impact at the ocean surface as he had dropped from above at least 50 meters.

The DRAGOON's and some other debris had hit his left leg leaving a moderate sized cut on his calf. Most painful of all was the enormous burn on his chest and biceps area. The burn was probably due to the intensity of the particle cannon, as the heat generated managed to burn through not only the freedom but a good part of his pilot suit too. His stomach hurt and he coughed up a lot of blood into him helmet covering up the visor with blood. With his last bit of strength he took off his helmet and threw it towards the Gundam's ruins.

Slowly Kira tried to stand up but the effort was too much for him as he toppled over and fell on his back. His whole body hurt and the pain was consuming him, making life seem like a living hell and at the same time it made death seem inviting and comfortable. But through sheer will he managed to stay conscious, remembering his friends in ORB, his family, his comrades in the PLANT's and Lacus... Lacus... he wanted to see her, the thought of being unable to see her again, unable to listen to her voice, unable to hold her in his arms, unable to gently brush her hair with his hands, unable to protect her again and unable to stand by her side... These thoughts fueled his anger, remorse and frustration, why did things have to turn out like this? Why couldn't they live in peace? How did he end up like this? Why wasn't he by Lacus's side right now?

Before he could immerse himself in the memories of the past, a voice behind him said "Well, Your one tough one to kill aren't you?" Kira was shocked as he did not expect to find anyone here, much less an enemy. He quickly looked for any nearby cover but he was in no condition to move. The person seemed to notice this as she continued, "Dont worry, Im not an enemy, Im an ally, in fact Im your aunt" This shocked Kira enough that he was able to push himself to sit up and lean against a nearby tree trunk. He saw a young lady with pretty blonde hair in a white lab coat and high heels, dressed in a purple shirt and a black skirt.

She looked at Kira skeptically and then said "Hmmm, you may have lived though that fight but without help you're as good as dead, and we cant have that now can we?" As soon as she had said that two pairs of strong hands lifted him up and placed him in a stretcher they seemed to have brought with them. As they carried him, the blonde lady quickly filled a syringe with something, and injected him, after which things suddenly got blurry and before he could even think of anything else he fell asleep.

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><p><strong>C.E 76 Kingdom Of Scandinavia, Earth (Present Day)<strong>

Kira slowly woke up in a comfortable bed, but the comfort was short lived as his brain registered searing pain from all over his body. But worst of all was his head it felt as if someone was beating him with a hammer from inside of his skull. His vision was still quite blurry but it was good enough to look around. His body was completely bandaged up leaving only a few spots of skin exposed, making him feel somewhat like a mummy. He was in room made out of blue concrete and fabricated steel. There was a sliding door to his left and all around him were an assortment of high tech medical equipment, and on another stand were an assortment of surgical instruments.

As he started to get his thoughts and senses back along with him recent memories, his monitor that registered his bloop pressure, brain waves, heart beat etc started to beep signaling Kira waking up. As if on cue the Blonde lady from before walked in. Seeing Kira awake and sitting up in bed a smile spread across her face, as she said "Glad to see your finally awake sleepy head, I've been waiting to talk to you for now..." Then as she saw him looking at the surgical equipment she quickly added "Oh and dont worry we haven't stolen any of your organs or anything." Kira smiled at the joke then looked at his supposed aunt and asked her "Who are you and why did you help me?" T

he lady smiled at that and said "My name is Elizabeth Roberts,or Eliza for short and like I said Im you aunt Kira. Via Hibiki was my cousin. I was a doctor and for almost all my life I assisted in the Ultimate Coordinator Project, but when I found out the embryo used had been Via's child I couldn't take it anymore and I quit. Even after you were born I couldn't abandon Via whom I loved so dearly or you, and partly due to love and partly for repentance I continued to take care of you and your sister who had lots of health problems as side affects of taking you out prematurely. I was allowed to do so by your parents because your body is unlike any other and I was the only one who knew it best, seeing as I had been the who designed your body, so your father thought it best for you to be treated by me. After their assassinations, the Yamato's took you in so I decided to go my own way so that you never have to see your past again. Unfortunately it seems in its own twisted way, your past has caught up to you, and just as Via feared, your life and the one's dear to you are in danger again. So in accordance with the promise I made with your mother 17 years ago, I've returned to fulfill Via's last request to me."

Kira just sat there listening as he tried to digest all this in. It was hard enough to listen to all this considering how his body was screaming in pain but believing and understanding all this at once was just too much. Eliza noticed this and she immediately moved forward and helped kira lie back down onto the bed. Then in a calm and soothing voice she said "thats it for now Kira, you need to rest. We can talk later, but first you need to get better as soon as possible." Slowly his mind filled with clashing thoughts and memories Kira slowly slipped back into the comfort of the unconscious.

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><p><strong>Author's Note : <strong>

_Hey Guys this is my first story so I can understand if you think I should be shot for trying to write but I plan to see this through and its probably going to be around 30 Chapters. It's only going to get better and better from now on so please favorite and alert the story and most DEFINITELY Review this! This will be a Suspense, Adventure and Romance story, centered around Kira x Lacus, Athrun x Cagalli, Shinn x Lunamaria. Maybe Dearka x Miriallia later on._

_Review with any tips or suggestions you may have, I will try my best to incorporate them into the story if possible. Don't Forget to R & R._


	2. Phase 2: The Eldest Sibling

**Author's Note : Thanks for all the Reviews! **Really nice to know other opinion and the fact that someone is acutally reading it! Completely get the part about it being rushed, I guess I had too many ideas I wanted to put out there, But here's my justification. I wanted the plot introduction to be done in the first chapter and not drag on, and I needed someone to find Kira who knows his past, so I figured it might as well be his aunt. As to why she was there and who and what Via Hibiki left behind and for what reason will be throughly explain in the 3rd or 4th chapter. (Depends on if I decide to put in some AxC or not.) Finally, I rushed the battle, intentionally because I wanted to illustrate the power difference between the Penelope and the Freedom.

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><p><strong>PHASE 2 : The Eldest Sibling<strong>

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><p><strong>C.E 75 PLANT's Hanger 3 ( 4 Months Ago )<strong>

_Kira Yamato slowly walked out of the elevator and down into the 3rd ZAFT hangar. There he slowly headed to the one and only blue and light silver battleship docked in port, the Yamato squadrons flagship "Ptolemy". The Ptolemy was developed using secret technology from a project that took about 23 years to complete. The project was started by Uzumi Nara Attha and Siegel Clyne but they had hidden away all of the data regarding this when the war started as they did not want to fuel the war with new technologies. After the 2nd war the GN Project files turned up in a inheritance letter addressed to Cagalli. The engines of the Ptolemy use a system known as the Synergy (GN) Drive. Not only was the engine new, it was also powerful, it made the Ptolemy almost as fast as the Eternal, the fastest ship in the world, furthermore the Synergy drive could even create a phase shift armor for the whole ship. The Phase shift armor was strong enough that it allowed ship to go in for atmospheric re-entry and the thrust was strong enough to allow atmospheric exit all on its own without the need for a mass-driver. The ship also had state of the art technology and weapons systems intalled putting it in a class of its own. The reason the ship had been given to Kira was almost entirely due to Cagalli and Lacus fussing over him and forcing him to accept saying that this way they could rest in peace as it would keep him safer than any of the other ships when he was in battle._

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><p><strong>FLASHBACK<strong>

**C.E 76 Ptolemy's Bridge ( 10 Days Ago ) **

_ Kira stood there staring into the screen into the C.I.C terminal as Meyrin Hawke worked intently. After a long stretch of silence, Meyrin looked up and said "I've got it commander." Immediately Kira starts looking over the information on the screen, after skimming through the first page he looks up and says "Excellent work Meyrin, send it over to my screen and reset the system's search trail, then you can leave. Also please keep this a secret from everyone." "yes sir" responded Meyrin who upon finishing her work silently left the bridge leaving Kira to ponder over the file on his computer screen. As Kira read through the file the frown on his face got deeper and deeper. Ever since his confrontation with Chairman Durandal at the end of the last war, Kira had some sort of a nagging feeling, like something about the way things turned out, just wasn't right. _

_Just to be on the safe side, Kira had asked Meyrin to use her hacking skills to look up any relevant files in the old FAITH system's. The search proved worthwhile as it contained Durandal's personal files which proved Kira's suspicions right. Durandal had not been on his own, he was following orders from some secret organization all along, but somewhere during the war he had a difference of opinion regarding the way the destiny plan was to be carried out and it had resulted in Durandal leaving the organization. Another worrying fact was that all the crucial information about the organization had been deleted, not even leaving a ghost file. Either way refusing to give up Kira had asked Meyrin to try and find the trail of the one's who had deleted the files. As Kira went through the results of the attempted tracking he was astounded and very very concerned. _

_The file said that the deletion of the files had been from inside the plants and had occurred very recently, meaning that the organization was still operating but the worst part was that the communications log from when Duranadal was still in the organization showed that the trail led straight to a LOGOS system. Finally the last page said that the system in the plants was also linked to the LOGOS system but she was able to recover another file with all the latest details on the Plant supreme council... But the part that caught Kira's attention was highlighted and marked with footnotes. The first two were supporters of the Clyne Faction but both of them had died recently in an unfortunate accident in a space shuttle with a faulty engine leading to an explosion, but their files were marked with the words "Removal Complete" and the day of their death, which could only mean that this was not an accident but an assassination. And the next person on the list was Lacus Clyne._

_Either way Kira figured Lacus was in grave danger, so he immediately called his 2nd in command; Ryo Ardae, and ordered him to call an emergency meeting of the Yamato Squadron and he also asked him to contact TERMINAL and get them to send in one of their agents to attend the briefing as well. Although perplexed at the sudden order from the Commander at 2 AM in the morning, Ryo efficiently got hold of everyone and by 6AM he had the TERMINAL agents, The Yamato squadron and 2 very annoyed and sleepy lieutenants waiting in the briefing room. Kira after going through the rest of the reports till 5:30 AM, went and took a shower after which he then went straight in to the briefing room after getting a call from Ryo. Once inside, Kira ignoring the half asleep yet angry glares from Shinn and Luna, looked through the people present, checking to see if anyone was missing._

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><p><em><strong>C.E 76 Ptolemy's Pilot Briefing Room ( 9 Days Ago )<strong>_

_ With everyone present and accounted for, Kira went straight to giving orders. "As of now, The Yamato Squadron will go into Code orange. All of you will report directly to me or Ryo only and not to any other person in ZAFT regardless of wether its Chairwoman Clyne or any another Commander. Next the Ptolemy will stay on continuous standby, with the Ginn's and Zaku's ready for launch at any given time. Lunamaria Hawke, you are to shadow chairwoman Clyne along with Shinn Asuka and act as her undercover bodyguards until further notice. Meyrin Hawke, You will be in-charge of coordinating the squad members actions. The remaining 5 Gouf pilots will be under Ryo and will stand guard outside the Clyne Manor at night. I also want all of the supreme council members and Aprillus 4's spaceports place under observation for anything suspicious. Finally these orders are strictly classified and are not to be divulged under any circumstances. All members are to keep themselves armed at all times, and needless to say that you must take extreme caution as to not alert any one of your actions" After a few seconds, once the magnitude of what Kira had just said sank in then finally Shinn spoke up "Whoah there... Commander are we under attack or something? Why are you taking up so many protective measures, especially around Miss Lacus?"_

_Kira sighed, he knew this was coming. It was better that he tell them the truth because a soldier needed a reason to fight, and without one they would be nothing more than cold blooded murderers , and he knew that, better than anyone else. Slowly he spoke up, "Yes Shinn, Im afraid that very well may be the truth."_

_Shinn could only stare at his commander open eyed as he digested what he had just said. But before he could say anything else Kira continued "I've got ample proof that the supreme council members from Maius 1 and 2 did not die in an accident but they were assassinated... The very same people who did that are now after Lacus... It also seems that these people are linked to both LOGOS and chairman Durandal. Either way I wouldn't put it past them to resort to using Nuclear weapons, so I want the Ptolemy on continuous standby so that we can intercept any such attacks. Until I get further proof regarding this, I dont want to get Lacus involved in this, as she has enough work to deal with any way. Composed of only ZAFT red coat pilots and the most experienced and loyal crew on board the most advanced ship in the world, the Yamato squadron is the best unit in ZAFT, and if we cant pull this off then no one can."_

_"Unless you have more questions, your dismissed" said Kira with a slight smile on his lips._

_"Yes Sir!" replied the whole squadron as they started leaving in-order to prepare for their new mission. After they had all left the agent from TERMINAL came up and said, "Any special orders for us, Kira-sama?"_

_Kira slowly looked at her and said "Yes Catherine, Im afraid that I will be needing the Freedom once again." Catherine was not surprised, she had guessed this was the case as soon as she had heard that Lacus-sama was in danger. Slowly she replied "Consider it done sir, we will have it ready for you to pick up by noon tomorrow or we can have it discreetly shipped to the Ptolemy."_

_Kira slowly smiled, then said "I also want the Eternal on standby. Inform DaCosta of the situation and let him take it from there, then finally I also have a message for you. When the time comes, and Im not here, I want you to relay this to Lacus," slowly he proceeded to give Catherine the message which left her staring at him wide-eyed, but she was a professional and thus quickly recovered. Slowly she bid the Commander good-bye as she took her leave in-order to fulfill his orders._

_As Catherine walked out the nights exhaustion caught up with Kira and he slowly slumped back onto a seat as he slowly rested his eyes thinking back at all the things that had happened so far. Him getting into the strike, destroying the blitz, getting beaten by Athrun, Defending ORB with the Freedom, getting beaten by the Impulse, his fights with the Strike Freedom against Rey Za Burrel and how it was just like his fight with Rau Le Cruset. Then Chairman Durandal and how he died, all these painful memories continued to plague Kira's mind as he tried to get some rest. But unknown to him a pair of eyes was watching him intently trying to decipher what was going on in his head right now._

_After everyone had left Kira's deputy Commander Ryo Ardae continued to examine his commander's behavior carefully. He had not been with him long but Ryo had nothing but the utmost respect for him. Ryo was the only one apart from Shinn and Luna who knew that Kira was the pilot of the Legendary Freedom. Furthermore he had seen Kira fight in-person in some of the recent skirmishes trying to quell the remnants of LOGOS, and he had noticed how Kira would never aim at the cockpit no matter the situation and after each battle its was incredibly obvious how much sadness the commanders eyes with-held behind them. The only time he saw him look truly at peace was when he was beside chairwoman Clyne and it didn't take a genius to see the feelings that they both of them held for each other. At one point when the two were taking a walk in the Clyne Manor's garden making small talk, Ryo was following at a distance and at some point he had gotten so frustrated with the two of them that before he realized it he screamed out "Just tell her already! Its just 3 small words!" Luckily the two of them were far too innocent to realize what Ryo meant so he was able to play it off as making kira ask Lacus the "permission to leave..." _

_Unfortunately both of them had hardly ment the past few weeks because after the deaths of the two Council members, Miss. Lacus had become incredibly busy, so much so that she did not even have time to talk or eat even with Commander Yamato, the man rumored to be the closest to the Chairwoman. Considering that they love each other and even live under the same roof, If still couldn't find some free time for the commander then he could only imagine the amount of work she must be dealing with._

_Slowly Kira got up and told Ryo that he was going home to get some sleep and asked him to lock up behind him. Ryo smartly saluted and started collecting stray files and papers as he started to clean up before locking up._

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><p><em><strong>C.E 76 Clyne Manor, PLANTS ( 9 Days Ago )<strong>_

_When Kira got home at 6:43 AM one of the Maids informed Kira that Lacus had already left because she needed to get to her office early today in-order to prepare for some meeting, disappointed that he missed her yet again, Kira slowly made his way to his room and slowly fell asleep after kicking out some Haros that were screaming "I will not allow it! I will not allow it!... Haro! We have a Problem!"_

_As Kira fell asleep he was haunted by nightmares of the past... Where a group of coordinators broke into their house trying to assasinate Lacus... Another dream where the shuttle in which Lacus was in was attacked by DINN's as she made her escape into space... A dream where the Eternal was ambushed by ZAFT mobile suits while docked with the TERMINAL factory..._

_Slowly Kira was lifted out of his dreams as he hear a voice call out to him "Kira-sama, Kira-sama." As he slowly opened his eyes he could see that the voice belonged to house's head maid. She continued "I apolagize for waking you up Kira-sama, but you were having a nightmare and I though it best to wake you up"_

_Kira gently smiled and said "Its okay, Marie, Im glad that you did. Thank you"_

_Marie apparently relieved at that smiled and asked him, "Its almost 1PM sir, would you like us to serve you lunch?" "No Marie, I have to go, ill get something to eat on my way there" replied Kira_

_Marie apparently dissapointed bowed and left saying that she would get the cook to make him some sandwiches to eat on the way. Kira slowly got up and took a shower and was getting dressed as he saw a little silver ring, one of his most precious items. Slowly he picked it up and held it close to him as he whispered, "Im sorry Lacus, but I have to do this. I hope you can forgive me." Quickly wiping off the few tears that managed to escape his eyes, Kira walked out of the house stopping only to pick up lunch which he finished on his drive to Potlemy's Hangar. _

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><p><em><strong>C.E 76 Ptolemy's Bridge ( 9 Days Ago )<strong>_

_As soon as he reached the Bridge he was greeted by the crew and Ryo Ardae. Kira quickly got a status update from all of the stations then he announced that Ryo would be the commanding officer while he was gone and then turning to Ryo himself he said "Ill be going to get the Freedom, take care of things while Im gone" then he left to the mobile suit hangar with Ryo saluting behind him. Quickly wasting no more time kira got into his custom made "ZGMF-001F Astraea", ZAFTS new top of the line mass production type command unit. As soon as was in the cockpit be booted up his custom made OS that increased the mobile suit specs to their optimal levels. Within minutes he was ready to launch._

_"Kira Yamato, Astraea Launching, Lets do this!"_

_As sson as he was out of the hangar he boosted the blue mobile suit's thrusters to maximum output and headed straight to the Etrenal's hiding place._

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><p><em><strong>C.E 76 Somewhere In Space <strong>_

_Slowly as kira approached a huge metorite the navigation system inticated that he had arrived. Switching to a secure channel Kira spoke "This is Kira Yamato in the Astraea, Eternal please open the rear hangar."_

_Another voice spoke out through the speakers, "This is the Eternal, Welcome back Master Kira, Please proceed to rear hatch for docking."_

_Manuvering the Astraea with ease, Kira slowly docked with the Eternal. Without even waiting for the system to shut down he made his way to the bridge stopping only for pressurization. (*** A/N: Ship hangars are not presseureized during mobile suit launching and docking***)_

_Upon entering the bridge he was greeted by Catherine and DaCosta who saluted him. Quickly Kira updated them of the situation, "Im taking the Freedom down to earth, I have some business to settle there. I can return here by getting to Heliopolis through ORB's mass driver, they should not have any problem letting the Freedom through. I want this to remain a secret from everyone for now, but if something happens to me, then immediatly evacuate Lacus to the Ptolemy or the archangel and not the Eternal or any other ZAFT ship because an attack on me means that we have a spy in TERMINAL as they are only people who know Im going down to earth, and if they can infiltrate TERMINAL, then they probably already have spies spread out in ZAFT." If Catherine and DaCosta had been shocked by what Kira had just said, then they did a very good job of hiding it. They only nodded their heads in acknowledgement as they saw Kira leave to put on a pilot suit._

_Within minutes Kira was back in the Freedoms familiar cockpit, starting up the system._

**GENERATION UNSUBDUED NUCLEAR DRIVE ASSAULT MODULE**

G.U.N.D.A.M Complex

_A__ctivating the Phase Shift Armor Kira quickly made his way to the launch catapult and launched as soon as the doors opened._

_"Kira Yamato, Freedom, Lets do this!"_

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><p><em>Once he was out of the eternal he opened up the freedom's wings for maximum thrust as he accelarated towards the earth. Then taking out a certain blood red coloured letter, he set the Freedom to re-enter the atmosphere so that it would head to the specific coordinates written on the letter. Once set Kira leaned back in his seat looking at the mysterious anonymous letter that was the reason for his sudden trip to earth. It read,<em>

_Kira Yamato,_

_ As you may already know Lacus clyne is in grave danger. She will be assasinated in the very near future, and the cause of her death will be you and you alone. You do not have the power to protect Lacus Clyne from those wishing to harm her, also the bitter truth remains that the reason for all the danger she faces is because of you. Lacus clyne and everyone you hold dear will be killed in the near future. Lacus Clyne, Athrun Zala, Your twin Cagalli Yula Attha, the crew of the Archangel, the Yamato squadron __**WILL DIE**__ and you are powerless to protect them. Their deaths will lead to another catastrophic war killing millions of innocent people. ORB will burn once again, The PLANTS's will fall... Kira Yamato you have no other path ahead of you as you are powerless tochange your destiny... __**But **__as Kira Hibiki you just may be able to stand up to your enemies and maybe that way bring real peace to the world. Kira Hibiki, Ultimate Coordinator and pilot of the Strike Freedom, I mean you no harm. If you wish to know who you really are, if you wish to know the hopes and dreams bestowed upon you, if you wish to acquire the power to protect Lacus Clyne and if you truly wish to bring peace to this world and rid it of the ghost of Rau Le Cruset then meet me before its too late, Pilot of the Strike Freedom._

_Although Kira thought this was a blatant trap at first, the fact that this person knew so much about him, including him being the Freedom's pilot, an Ultimate coordinator, Cagalli's twin and about the possible assassination on Lacus persuaded him to see this through. But he decided to keep this letter a secret from everyone because he thought it would become a hassle or create unnecessary commotion and this was something he would have to see through alone. And the reason as to why he was going alone without telling anyone but the Eternal's crew was because there was a possibility that there was a spy in either the TERMINAL or ZAFT or maybe both, and this way Kira figured would be the best way to find out, if he really was their target and why, and also about where the information leak is._

_Slowly the Freedom began to accelerate as it entered the earth's orbit... thats when Kira sensed something. A sort of vague pressure started building up in Kira's mind, this seemed to drain the energy out of him and it felt like it was slowing down his reaction speed. Then out of no where a yellow coloured beam shot at him from the left, Kira just barely managed to evade it by dropping down quickly, but before he could do anything else another barrage of shots came at him forcing him to go into various evasive maneuvers. Thats when he saw it. A mobile suit was approaching him from his left side. As it came closer Kira was able to make out the finer details of the mobile suit, evading another shot, Kira narrowed his eyes as he saw the unmistakeable face of a Gundam facing him. But this suit was unlike any other one he had ever faced before. It had a gundam's face but had sort of wing like attachments to its hands and legs. On its chest there was another attachment that looked like a very narrow and sharpened nose of a spacecraft._

_Slowly Kira spoke "Who are you and why are you attacking me? How did you know that I was here? Whom are you working for?" The other pilot just remained silent and instead of a reply he simply just shot another barrage of beams at Kira from his shoulder mounted rail Guns. Kira evaded them but before he could move forward and attack the other gundam he realized that he was being pulled down into the earth's atmosphere. Then suddenly the other gundam charged, this time with a beam saber. Quickly Kira reopened his wings for extra thrust and maneuverability as he was now entering the atmosphere, then he took out his own beam saber just in time to parry the oncoming attack, then immediately kira fired the Freedom's chest mounted cannon and his him mounted rail guns at the same time. The other gundam equally adept, evaded the chest cannon and deflected the rail guns shot with his beam saber. Luckily the second rail gun shot hit his right arm blade effectively destroying it. After taking that hit the other Gundam moved away from the Freedom._

_Kira wanting to question the pilot further followed him but did not engage him because he wanted to first enter the atmosphere and not risk a fight during re-entry. The other pilot also seemed to have reached the same conclusion as he too kept his distance and did not engage the Freedom._

_Upon entering the atmosphere their fight resumed with the other pilot still remaining silent... Then he quickly evaded Kira's attack and went into the cloud cover, immediately Kira followed him, but no sooner did he enter the cloud he found himself face to face with the other gundam just lying in wait for him. Realizing his mistake Kira tried to evade but the enemies attack caught the Freedom square on its head destroying it causing the Freedom to fall into a spiral heading straight towards the ocean floor._

_**End of Flashback**_

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><p><strong>C.E 76 Kingdom Of Scandinavia (Present Day)<strong>

Kira woke up with a start... He had gone through the same nightmare once again. He had been utterly defeated by the RX-104FF Penelope in his previous battle, and for the second time he had destroyed the Freedom which Lacus had entrusted him with. After his battle he had been rescued by Eliza Robbins, a blonde woman who claimed to be his aunt. They had spoken just once after he had woken up after the battle 2 days later, and she had told him about how they were related, but before Kira could ask her how she knew where he was and how she was on the very same uninhabited island as the one he had crashed into still remained a mystery.

After their introduction Eliza had given him an injection that made him feel like his brain was boiling over. She said that it was a radiation buffer that would cancel out all the high level harmful radiation he was exposed to, from the Freedom's Nuclear reactor and the Mega Particle Cannon. The searing pain across his head caused him to blackout and the next time he woke up 4 days had passed he saw that he had been put on Intravenous fluids but the pain had diluted but had spread all across his body. This time he was given a pain killer but it only eased the pain a little bit. Then after forcing him to eat some kind of porridge and letting him use the restroom, Eliza had given him another tranquilizer that put him back to sleep.

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><p>Judging by the calendar on the desk beside his bed, Kira figured that this time around he had been knocked out for 3 day. It had been 9 days since he had nearly died, 9 days since he had left Lacus's side. 9 days since he was supposed to meet that person who said that they would help him. As he though about all that a voice cut through his thoughts, "What are you thinking about Kira?" Suddenly Kira realized that Eliza had been sitting beside him the whole time cutting apples, but he had been too immersed in this thoughts to notice her. Also beside her was a pretty blonde girl. As their eyes met a small blush ran over her face and she quickly averted her eyes. Chuckling to her self Eliza introduced her as her only daughter Jennifer Robbins or Jenna for short. "She was the one who took care of replacing your bandages, you medication and I believe she has been looking forward to finally meeting her incredibly handsome cousin" explained Eliza, at which Kira chuckled causing Jenna's face to turn scarlet"<p>

After introducing himself and thanking her, Kira replied to Eliza's earlier question saying "I was supposed to met someone who said they would help me gain enough power to protect Lacus and everyone else, thats why I came down to earth."

Eliza just smiled at him and said "And was that certain someone the author of a rather ominous red letter? Well, Kira Hibiki?"

Kira's eyes widened noticeably displaying his shock at the reply, after a moment he managed to say "So it was you who sent me that letter?" Eliza only nodded at the rhetorical question then continued, "You're not as healthy as I had hoped you would be when I gave this to you, but since we are incredibly pressed for time I guess it can't be helped." Then taking out a little brown box from a safe hidden in the wall beside Kira, Eliza continued "Kira Hibiki it's finally time for you to receive what your mother Via Hibiki and your elder sister Sakura Hibiki left behind for you."

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><p><strong>Author's Note : Once again Please Review! I'd love to know your opinions!<strong>

Well I bet no one expected that part about Sakura Hibiki... Its a good change any way this is it for the Introduction / Prelude... Next in the next chapter titled "Inheritance" we finally get to see what this supposed relic from the past actually is. Next chapter will focus on some of Kira's discoveries but before that we will see what Lacus, Athrun and Cagalli have discovered during these past few days when Kira has been asleep.

Also thank you guys soo much for the reviews, it really boosted my morale and helped me finish this chapter in a day! So please excuse any embarrassing spelling and grammar errors. Im currently looking for a Beta Reader for this story so please leave you name in a review or PM me if you'd like to help.

**Dont Forget to R & R ! Next Update (Chapter 3) by : OCT 9th or Before! Sorry about the delay!**

**Solitus : **Thank you for the Review and Alert! Please keep reading, and do Review the upcoming chapters, I will try to fix any mistakes as soon as possible and any suggestions are more than Welocme!

**ZantSpellcastor : **Thanks for the Review! Im nowhere as good of a writer as you are but I decided that I might as well do something with all of my free time! Im really glad you stumbled across this, as I was going to ask you to give this a read anyway! Glad you were able to recognize this as my account, I know the name was almost the same but I never used an account to review _RENEGADE_ before as I never had an account... Also I have no idea how big this might be as 45+ is my estimated goal... Anyway thanks for your support, hope you keep reading and reviewing! as eagerly as I do for Renegade!


	3. Phase 3 : Embers of Chaos

**Author's Note : **Im Sorry about the Late update but its been a hectic week with too much course work. This is a transitional chapter that marks the end of the catching up to Present Day events. I am dont with the notes for the next chapter but have to find time to type it out. Will probably **UPDATE BY OCT 23rd (Sunday 11:59PM) Dont forget to REVIEW!**

**(Delay Due to preparation for upcoming ACT and college deadlines!)**

Once Again this is **NOT A CROSSOVER**. Im only using Gundams from other timelines so that the readers can easily visualize the mobile suit. They can just go to the Gundam Wiki or Google for a picture. I will not use prominent mobile suits from other stories as then there will be an argument of which one is stronger and all... So no gundam 00 or wing zero or ZZ... Just rare Gundams from the Manga or non-major ones from minor gundam anime. Feel free to suggest some if you know of some that will fit the story.

This chapter is probably the most boring one in the whole story but bear with it because it gives you a heads up and how SENTINEL operates. Its a bit confusing and rushed but it will be explained to you/Kira in the next chapter. *Hint*... Well I hate angst so I tried to avoid any of that while still keeping a slight romantic element within the canonical limits. Definitely R & R.

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><p><strong>PHASE 3 : EMBERS OF CHAOS<strong>

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><p><strong>C.E 76 PLANT's Supreme Council Building ( 3 Days Ago )<strong>

Lacus Clyne was tired and worried. She had been extremely busy with work the past few days and she had not gotten to spend anytime with Kira. To start with she had been opposed to him joining the military in the first place but Kira had insisted because he felt that this would be a good way for him to remain close to lacus while still being in a position where he could protect her. Ever since the end of the war Lacus had started to feel as if their relationship was becoming more and more strained, and this worry had been constantly worrying her in the back of her mind. To make things worse, Kira had changed over the past few weeks; he had begun to distance himself from Lacus and he would stay back at the Ptolemy overnight and not come back home for several days. Even when he was at home he would either just sleep or stay cooped up in his study without talking to her all that much. Then even when he talked with her, he would ask her about how the other colonies are doing and any new news about the treaties or council discussions rather than her own well being. Kira had started changing, the kind and compassionate Kira with a child like innocence was slowly drifting away from her and she could only blame herself for it, as she was the one who had created the gap by immersing herself in her work. Lacus loved Kira, she had for a long time now, but even now, she was still unsure of where his feelings lay. Then, slowly she began to ponder what she would get Kira for his birthday which was now 3 weeks away.

As she kept thinking about all this, an impatient voice snapped her right out of her little trance. "Well if your done daydreaming then I'm going to start on my report then" said Yzak who had just entered her office. Yzak Joule was one of the youngest commanders in ZAFT apart from Kira and he was a loyal and trustworthy person. Although he was on the enemy's side in the first war he had come around and started to fight for his own beliefs during the second war. He had gone as far as disobeying orders to support the Eternal in the final battle in the second war which had earned him Kira's and Lacus's trust and respect.

"Yes, Im sorry Yzak, please start with your report" replied Lacus.

"A second investigation of the accident that killed the council members from Maius one and two was carried out independently by the Joule squadron under your orders. After the investigation we found out that this was a highly planned assassination as the shuttle's engines were clearly sabotaged. Furthermore this piece of evidence was covered up in the initial and secondary reports which leads us to believe that who ever was behind this incident was clearly someone with a great deal of power and influence within ZAFT. Those members were quickly replaced with people who oppose you. These people share their views with the radical wing and wish to eliminate the naturals in yet another war. After another investigation we have not found any decisive evidence but we strongly believe that their elections in the respective colonies were tampered with. As you have already guessed both of the deceased council members were good supporters of the Clyne faction and Siegel Clyne's principles, so the obvious conclusion would be that these people are against you and probably support Chaiman Zala or Durandal's views and they might probably even try and kill you"

Lacus sighed, slowly massaging her temples. She had reached the same conclusion and had been expecting Yzak's report to be exactly like this. "I figured as much, but I cant imagine what they would accomplish by assassinating me? Either way it's a good thing I let you handle this case rather than Kira, this would have worried him to no end" Said Lacus with a weak smile. Yzak just looked at her then with a quick snort he said "well I dont know about that."

Puzzled lacus asked "What do you mean?" Slowly looking straight at her, Yzak continued "Once I found out about this I took the liberty of assigning a few of my men to tail you just in case. Surprisingly what they reported back to me was that you were already being tailed by two ZAFT redcoats throughout the day and there were two different teams of other ZAFT red coat soldiers guarding your mansion every night. After further investigation I found out that these guys were from none other than the Yamato squadron."

Lacus just sat in her seat, surprise showing all over her face. Slowly regaining her composure she managed to say "So Kira knows about this then?" Yzak nodded in agreement before adding "Yeah but it looks like he knows a lot more and he has known for a while. That guy has refused to meet me for the past two days saying he was too busy.x I think its time you got him to come up here and explain things quickly and we will need him here anyway if we are going to work out a contingency plan regarding this situation." Lacus slowly nodded in deep though as the past events began to fall into place, slowly she began to understand the reasons behind Kira's strange behavior and actions as she thought "Oh Kira, why didnt you tell me when you were soo worried? And if I am in danger why havent you stayed by my side yourself?" Slowly as she switched on the monitor to call the Ptolemy to get in touch with Kira, the screen was suddenly filled with a large notice about an incoming emergency call on a private line. Instinctively lacus connected touched the answer key, connecting the call.

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><p><strong>C.E 76 The Attha Manor - ORB<strong> **( 3 Days Ago )**

Admiral Kisaka was almost running up the annoyingly long front walkway towards the Attha manor. It was late saturday night and the whole city was bustling with activity but Kisaka was immersed in his own thoughts as he looked at the report that he held in his right hand. He was very apprehensive about how he was going to tell Cagalli and Athrun about this matter but he knew he couldn't wait any longer. Finally reaching the main door he rang the bell once, then again in a few seconds, still no answer. Growing impatient he rang the bell again and again until the door was thrown open by a really angry looking Cagalli who looked like she was about to beat the crap out of the untimely visitor.

When she heard the bell ring Cagalli was just about to finally lie down in Athruns arms peacefully while watching a late night movie. Just as Athrun was about to circle his arms around her the doorbell rang annoying Cagalli to no end. Then before long it rang again, then again and again driving the already annoyed Cagalli to a whole new level. Briskly walking up to the door she fung the door wide open with a good mind to punch the living hell out of the impatient moron who had disturbed them. As soon as she saw who it was Cagalli's anger was forgotten as she looked at the pale and worried face of the ORB Admiral. Slowly Cagalli ventured out to ask "Whats wrong Kisaka? I never expected you to show up at this hour and you look like a ghost? is everything all right?"

Kisaka tried in vain to crack a smile but failed miserably, he could only manage to say "Cagalli I need to talk to you and Athrun right now, its very important." Although surprised at the sudden request Cagalli nodded and led him into the living room where Athrun was seated. One look at Kisaka's face and immediately Athrun understood the urgency of the situation, quickly getting right to the point he asked "Whats going on Kisaka?"

Looking at the blue haired coordinator Kisaka slowly started with his explanation, "Just a few hours ago the Kingdom of Scandinavia declared a state of emergency after they were attacked by an unknown faction. Apparently there was a mobile suit battle in their territory a 2 days ago. Both mobile suits seemed to have entered the atmosphere already engaged in battle and according to a few fishermen who were around at that time, one of the mobile suits was beaten easily within a few minutes in a giant explosion. As the other machine started to leave the area, the Scandinavian forces managed to intercept him to interrogate him. Unbeliveably enough, he took out two fully equipped assault fleets in less than 20 minutes without even getting a scratch on him. Then that mobile suit escaped without a trace. Following the attack the more Scandinavian forces combed the area where the fight had apparently taken place. During the search they found the other involed mobile suit." Then finally coming to the worst part, Kisaka showed the couple in front of him the pictures of a heavily damaged mobile suit, it had lost its head, an arm and leg. Its shoulder had taken significant damage leaving the attached arm dangling. But worst of all was the huge cavity in its chest. The whole chest area from the pelvis to the base of the neck was missing. It was as if the whole area had been blown away while melting the armor. Looking at the picture was more than enough to tell Athrun that the pilot never had a chance, but thats when Athrun realized that the machine had wings.

Then as if confirming his building suspicions he noticed that it also had 2 rail-guns on the shoulders and hips. Although it took Cagalli a minute to recognize it, Athrun recognized it in an instant. He could recognize that mobile suit anywhere and in any condition. As he looked at the state the Strike Freedom was in, he mumbled to himeslef, "No, no, no, no, this cant be happening again." Slowly memories of his battle with the Strike came flooding back into his mind, the way he had fought Kira trying to kill him to get revenge for Nicol, the memories of how he had self-destructed the Aegis to destroy the Strike. Slowly a head leaned against him. Cagalli was still staring at the picture in disbelief. Athrun himself refused to believe it. Then in an almost crying voice Cagalli said "This cant be possible right? Kira is with Lacus in the PLANTS. He would never leave her alone to come down here. Thats right, why would he be here on earth? This must be a mistake, it has to be. That cant be the Freedom, it just cant be." Looking at the horrified look on the teens faces only increased Kisaka's misery as he continued "Im afraid that this is true. The report says that the search party found nuclear radiation on the site. The radiation was found to be from a Hyper Deuterion Nuclear Reactor, the kind that only the Justice and Freedom use. Furthermore, they also found the disengaged DRAGOONS near the island's shore. This was more than enough proof for them to conclude their investigation saying that the destroyed mobile suit was the ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom.

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><p>Finally Cagalli could not hold it in any longer. She slowly broke down in Athrun's arms as she sobbed. In a low, shaking voice she cried "Why? This doesn't make any sense? Why did Kira come down here without telling any of us? Who attacked him and why?... It's not possible, he cant be dead, not after everything we went through to get here... He cant die..."<p>

"Something about this just doesn't fit... First, i doubt Kira would be beaten so easily in just a few minutes. He was the best pilot I've even known and the Freedom was one the strongest mobile suites even built. For them to be beaten by a single mobile suit in a span of a few minutes is just plain absurd. Even I cant manage to do that."

Kisaka slowly cut in, "Well actually, there is slight possibility that Kira is still alive. The search party found the pilots helmet near the wreckage. It was heavily burned and was severely cracked but the fact that its there means that kira was somehow able to survive the blast. The fact that the cockpit was completely destroyed but a helmet made it through leads us to believe that Kira got away from the attack and escaped somewhere or was captured by the enemy."

Hearing this both of the teens eyes widened considerably. Before Cagalli could get her hopes up, Kisaka continued, "I think its best that you know that the helmet that was found was completely coated in blood suggesting that Kira was severely wounded. Next the medical team on site has reported that if the pilot escaped then he would have been exposed to lethal levels of radiation from the Freedoms nuclear reactor, so his chances of survival would be negligible."

Athrun replied saying "Im sure Kira is still alive. Captured or not I'm sure he is not dead. First we need to calm down and believe in him. If I cant kill him, then no one can" That little joke made Cagalli smile a little "Well I guess your right athrun" she said, "he wont die that easily, no matter what the odds he will come through, he IS my little brother after all."

Not wasting anymore time athrun turned to kisaka and started analyzing the situation. Kisaka quickly summarized the other facts to get athrun up to date with the situation. "It looks like they issued the state of emergency as soon as they were able to identify the Freedom. They also sent us this report immediately asking us to check to see if we could identify either mobile suit. I was able to see that this one was the Freedom after reading the report but we dont have a matching model in our database for the enemy suit. It looks like they will be making the public announcement regarding the situation tomorrow morning while keeping the information about the Freedom a secret for the time being." Athrun nodded, "The Freedom has become the symbol of power and peace, for someone to destroy it would be a challenge to the peace we have finally established. From the civilian point of view this news can create a lot of panic about an impending war, so its better to keep this matter from going public until we know what we are dealing with her." Athrun then got up and started walking to his study which was adjacent to the living room. While walking he continued "Im going to call Lacus as we have an emergency line in place from here. I dont think she knows about all this yet, so its better we tell her. Also we might be able to find out why Kira came down here in the first place, that will help us come up with a contingency plan."

"Im going to call Mr. Waltfeld and Commander La Flaga and tell them what's going on" Said Cagalli as she got up and walked towards the phone. Kisaka also got up to leave and told both of them that he was going back to the military HQ so that he can dig up some more information about all of this. Quickly wasting no more time Athrun switched on the monitor on his desk and put a call through to the PLANTS on a private emergency channel.

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><p><strong>C.E 76 PLANT's Supreme Council Building (3 Days Ago)<strong>

As soon as the call connected Lacus found herself staring at Athrun's face. "Athrun? What's wrong?" she asked. Athrun was quite surprised that she picked up so quickly but after a moment his thoughts caught up to him and he said "Lacus, I want you to listen to me carefully and answer my questions calmly, okay?" Although a bit surprised and confused at the request she agreed as she figured it must be important if Athrun had contacted her on the emergency line. Upon her nodding, in a slow voice Athrun asked her "Lacus, I want you to tell me anything out of the ordinary that has happened to you or Kira over the last few days. Dont leave anything out and then tell me where Kira has been for the past few days, whom he was meeting with and what he has been up to." Lacus was quite surprised at the questions and she began to wonder if Athrun knew something about Kira and if there was some other reason behind Kira's change in behavior. She then recalled the event of the past few days and how Kira had distanced himself and how it was probably due to him worrying about her safety after those assassinations. Then she told him about how Kira had not come home for the last few days and how he has been ignoring her calls for some reason. Finally when Athrun asked her if she had contacted the TERMINAL or the Eternal recently, she replied no. That answer seemed to have taken the life out of athrun as he slumped forward in his seat and in a cold and slow voice he told Lacus "He has not been ignoring you Lacus. And I bet he would do anything to be with you, but the reason he is not with you right now is because he has been captured by someone, probably the same people who may be trying to assassinate you. Just a few hours ago ORB received reports that the Scandinavian military found the wreckage of the Freedom on an island off their shores, the suit received catastrophic damage but the pilots helmet was found, suggesting that he may still be alive"

This shocked Lacus, she couldn't believe it. This just so sudden and seemed so ridiculous, it was quite impossible to digest, but the look on Athrun's face was more than enough to convince her that he was deadly serious and this was no joke. Also the facts fit the events, but that didn't stop Lacus from want to break down and cry. She wanted to see kira, she wanted him to hold her and tell her that everything would be okay. She was scared, she felt so secure as long as he was around her, but now without him by her side she felt so lonely and vunerable. There were just so many unanswered questions regarding all this, that only served to make things harder for Lacus. Unfortunately Yzak who had been listening to the whole conversation did not take it quite as quietly as Lacus. Instead he chose to turn the monitor around and shout straight at a very surprised athrun. "_Kisama! _ Who the hell told you all this? What do you mean captured? Why the hell was he in Scandinavia? You better start giving me some answers NOW!" shouted Yzak. Athrun was only surprised that Yzak had been there in Lacus's office all along but by now he had gotten used to Yzak's quick temper but before he could try and calm Yzak down and explain things, a young man with a black ZAFT uniform came bursting through the door to Lacus's office. Acting on instinct Yzak quickly drew his gun at the intruder while moving between Lacus and the possible assassin.

Before anything else could happen the intruder called out to them with his arms up in the air, "Whoah careful there, Commander Joule, would you be as kind to put that gun away before you accidentally kill me?" said a nervous Ryo Ardae, Captain of the Ptolemy and 2nd in command of the Yamato Squadron. "Perfect, just the person I wanted to see" Said Yzak who quickly walked up to Ryo, grabbed his collar and held him at gun point. "I believe you have some explaining to do and unless you have a death wish you better start, NOW!" said Yzak in a cold and menacing voice. "How about you start telling us why your moron of a commander ran off to earth in the Strike Freedom for? And why exactly have you been concealing his absence for so long even when he was captured by the enemy?" said Yzak. The question apparently surprised Ryo, who only managed to choke out a "What?" before Yzak yelled out more questions at him.

Behind them lacus watched with sad and tearful eyes as she stood there waiting for the explanation regarding why the man she loved had left her to go and risk his life in a battle on earth. Before the interrogation could proceed any further, Ryo managed to break free of Yzak's grip, then in an exasperated and strained voice he said "Look, all the actions that the commander took were only to ensure Ms. Lacus's safety. I knew he was going to get the Freedom but I had no idea he went to earth or that he was attacked and captured. I thought he was in the Eternal for the past few days. He asked me to hide his absence because he thought it might instigate the assassins to target Ms. Lacus while he was away. Either way, its imperative that we leave here now! Ms. Lacus is in grave danger right now, we have to evacuate her to the Ptolemy immediately."

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><p>"What?" Said Athrun and Yzak in unison. Yzak was just about to grab Ryo again and give him a piece of his mind when Athrun calmly asked Ryo "What do you mean danger? How did you get to this conclusion?" Looking at the people in the office Ryo began to summarize the issue as quickly as possible. "Meyrin hacked into the unknown server where we found the files on the assassinations of the council members. There, she found links to Blue Cosmos and an organization known as <em>SENTINEL <em>that seems to be the one controlling Blue Cosmos and Logos. Thats where she found details regarding a coup d'etat within ZAFT. They plan to use the supporters of Partick Zala and Chaiman Durandal to help them assassinate Ms. Lacus. They even planned to have Blue Cosmos send them reinforcements if needed. Commander Yamato predicted something like this would happen, thats why he wanted to retrieve the Freedom for just this kind of a battle. He also gave specific orders to us, saying that should such a situation arise, we were to evacuate Ms. Lacus to the Ptolemy."

Athrun calmly analyzed the situation, then said "I trust Meyrin's skill and looking at how things have happened so far, I think its safe to say that this _SENTINEL_ has a lot of power so its unwise to underestimate them. We still dont know why exactly Kira came down to earth and the report said that he engaged the enemy in space, so its safe to assume that they may have more forces up looking at _SENTINEL's_ actions so far, them seem to want to dispose of Lacus and the other council members so that they can bring the people with radicle views to power. By attacking the Freedom and the Scandinavian forces they have made it blatantly clear that they want to end the peace we have right now, most probably by starting another war. But its still unclear which side they support or their motives for wanting another war. Yzak please evacuate Lacus to the Ptolemy, in this situation thats the safest thing to do until things sort themselves out."

"No. Im not going. I cannot abandon things the way they are. If I run away right now then it will only be easier for them to take over the council, then there will almost undoubted be another war." Said Lacus with a determined face. Then on the monitor she saw Cagalli as she walked over and sat beside athrun. "Lacus I've seen my country fall in front of my eyes twice. I know the pain better than anyone else, but what good can you do if your dead? Kira risked his life for your safety, do let his sacrifice go to waste. besides what are we supposed to tell him when he gets back and you not here anymore?" Said Cagalli in a calm and persuasive tone.

"Oh Cagalli." Said Lacus still not fully convinced. She began thinking about Kira and how he was, and about when she would get to see him again or IF she would get to see him again.

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><p>Suddenly Ryo Ardae's communicator started beeping which he answered quickly. As soon as he was done his face became grave and tense as he gave everyone the news. "One of our scouts has detected a fleet of 8 Agamemnon Class ships and many more Drake Class ships headed straight to the PLANTS as we speak. It looks like Blue Cosmos has started an attack. If this attack works out it can turn into a war again between the EA and ZAFT. Next, several fights have broken out in the hangars where the supporters of the radicle wing are trying to take over, the chain of command has been broken as no one knows what to do or whom to fight and to make it worse, many of the commanding officers are missing because of the memorial function being held in Sextillus 5 today. It looks like they plan to wreak havoc here and kill and her supporters in the council to cripple the Clyne faction then blame it all on the earth alliance once they commence their attack." As is confirming his words, a huge explosion shook the whole colony. Out of the window, bright flames could be seen at the ZAFT hangars on the other end, although there was no sign of people using mobile suits to fight yet.<p>

Quickly Athrun asked Ryo "We have to get Lacus out of there, can you still get her to the Ptolemy? It would be ideal for you to leave before the enemy fleet gets there to avoid a battle or any crossfire when ZAFT retaliates, then you can bring her to Heliopolis or maybe even to ORB as the Ptolemy can re-enter the atmosphere."

Ryo thought about it for a second then replied "The Ptolemy has already launched and it's waiting for us in the service bay right under this building. If we leave now we will be able to avoid any kind of fights." "Great" said Yzak, "I'll have the Joule squadron launch to take care of the coup d'etat. I'll also try to get a hold of some other commanders loyal to the Clyne faction, so that we can halt the enemy fleet until ZAFT can re-mobilize." He then turned to Lacus and said "You will only be a burden as long as you're here. Get to Heliopolis and mobilze the Clyne Faction. Thats the best way to stop this from escalating into another way. Lets go, I'll escort you to the Ptolemy" "Go now Lacus" said Cagalli, "We will meet you at Heliopolis. We will stop this before it becomes another war."

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><p>Not wasting anymore time Yzak and Ryo rushed Lacus out of the office and into an emergency elevator that went straight to the lower ship bay. As soon as the door opened a few minutes later they were facing two armed ZAFT redcoats. "Well, you sure took your own sweet time" said Shinn in an annoyed voice only to receive a punch on his shoulder from Lunamaria. "We dont have much time, you guys take her from here and get the hell out" Said Yzak as he stepped back into the elevator and went back up. Grabbing her arm Luna ushered Lacus into the pressurized bridge connecting the bay to a gleaming blue and grey battleship waiting for them.<p>

As soon as they were on board the hatch behind them closed detaching the connective walkway. The immediately their way to the bridge, where Ryo hurriedly gave out orders. "Set the engine thrust to Maximum, head straight to the rendezvous point to meet up with the Eternal. Then set course to Heliopolis. Activate the Phase shift armor at maximum for beam attacks. Set all missiles to auto-intercept mode, all pilots on standby. Get us out of here NOW!"

"Yes Captain!" Replied the crew as they hurried to carry out his commands. Lacus simply stood at the door until Ryo got her to take a seat in the center of the bridge. The commander's place; Kira's place. As she watched the PLANTS get smaller and smaller behind them, the pain in Lacus's chest only seemed to grow as thoughts about Kira and the impending war against SENTINEL came to mind. She wondered "Kira where are you? When will be back by my side?"

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><p><strong>Author's Note : <strong>Well I hope you got the basic idea. This was annoying to write because I had to drag Yzak out of character for this to work and writing a conversation in the past while switching from 1st to 3rd person was a feat. Hope I didnt confuse you but worry not, Next time I will brush up on the rushed parts when Kira is told about all this. Next chapter will focus mostly on Kira and 2/3rd of the way, FINALLY SENTINEL will make an official appearence and make their move, herby starting the story... Look forward for the Eternal Freedom... *Hint*

Once again sorry about the tenses and spellings... Thats why I'd like a Beta Reader... If you'd like to BetaRead this story drop a PM or a Review, Ill get back to you.

Please Review and be sure to add anything you didnt like or loved... stuff you would like me to change or explain...

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><p><strong>ZantSpellcastor :<strong> Thanks for the review. Glad to know your following this story. I am quite lazy so thats why I decided to use other Gundam's instead of making up some. But it worked out as it its easier for reader to visualize them if they can just look at the picture of what I'm talking about in Google or the Gundam wiki. I think Athrun will play a very interesting and critical role but right now Im still tweaking it to keep it as canonical as possible. Im not sure about wether I should make the characters a bit OC. Please do keep reviewing, Looking forward to your advice and opinions!

**Aizawa Li Syaoran : **Glad you found this story to the right one! Sorry about the late Update but fear not because I have the next 4 chapters planned and ready to go. Only problem is to try and find time to type them out. Keep Reviewing and feel free to tell me your opinions and voice any questions yo may have. Ill try and get back to you.

**Hazelna : **Thanks for the review! Hope you will like this story much more as I plan to put in tons of K x L in it. Keep reading and Reviewing! Be sure to put in your opinions and comments in your reviews!

**KiraYamato20102 : **Thanks so much! Well I do put in a decent amount of effort into them but its what makes it worth it... Glad you liked this story, and yes I will continue this story. I plan to have at-least 20 + chapters right now. Maybe even more... I've started reading "Heroes" and it seems quite good. I will review it once I get a good idea of the story as ive only just begun... (Too much work at the start of the semester.)... Thanks for the review! Keep Reading and Reviewing!...

**IchigoUchiha : **Im sorry if Lacus was a bit OC but this is a K x L story so I had no choice... But her actions will not change except with regard to Kira... SO look forward to the

**Next Chapter : INHERITANCE...**


	4. Phase 4 : Inheritance

**Author's Note: Sorry for the Delay! This chapter is much longer than the ones before, I even had to split it into two to keep it from becoming huge. **

**Hope you Enjoy it! Be sure to Lemme know what you think about it!**

**NEXT UPDATE : IS ALREADY UP! CH 5 : Reunion**

**Dont forget to Review! **

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><p><strong>PHASE 4 : INHERITANCE<strong>

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><p><strong>C.E 76 Lagrange 3, Ptolemy<strong>

Lacus Clyne sat silently in the commanders seat inside of the Ptolemy. It had been about 3 hours since she had been evacuated from the PLANTS due to the sudden attack by SENTINEL. If the situation had started under different circumstances Lacus would probably have stood her ground and stayed back in the PLANTS and have tried to get things back under control. Unfortunately, although she did not show it, the news that Kira Yamato had secretly left her side in-order to protect her and in the process had quite possibly gotten himself captured or killed, hit Lacus quite hard. Ever since the news had been broken to her, she found herself in a trance, quite unable to think straight. It was because of this that she had given into the other's demands of getting her out of Aprillus 4.

After she had been escorted onto the Ptolemy, the ship had left at full speed towards Lagrange 3, Heliopolis. Since this was on the other side of the orbit, with the PLANTS between them and the moon, the rebel forces and the Earth forces had not noticed them slipping away. Throughout the 3 hours they had expected to get updates on the sudden attack from their informants in the PLANTS and the Joule squadron but the events that had unfolded before them had left everyone on the bridge in deep silence.

The first news they had received was that Yzak had managed to get a few of his friends who were also commanders, to rally their squadrons and form a line of defense around the hangars to prevent the rebel from getting into the city. The rebels as expected had turned out to be a group of 5 squadrons who were mainly composed of veterans from both the battles of Jachin-Due who also happened to oppose Lacus and her principles. Next the Joule squadron had deployed their forces around Aprillus to intercept the E.A fleet in case they attacked, so that they could buy some time until ZAFT forces were organized. Dearka had managed to contact Sextillus to get a hold of the ZAFT commanders who were currently attending the Annual Veterans Memorial Service and briefed them of the situation while leaving out Lacus's location in case of an information leak.

Yzak's second captain, Shiho Hahenfuss had meanwhile, contacted rest of the colonies ZAFT sections informing them of the E.A fleet just out side their radar range and the ongoing coup d'etat in Aprillus asking them to send some reinforcements while sending rest of their forces to defend against the impending attack. Surprisingly the battle was a quick one. The rebel forces had not resorted to using mobile suits in the colony, instead they had taken over the ZAFT's Aprillus base and Hangar's. They tried to blockade themselves in there when it became clear that they did not have enough support as the though they would in their little rebellion. With superior numbers and power Yzak had quickly uprooted the rebels and apprehended the leaders involved. But thats when things took a drastic turn for the worse.

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><p><strong>C.E 76 ZAFT HQ, Aprillus 4<strong>

Yzak Joule was worried, and very much so. He had only to start his interrogation of his prisoners when it became increasingly clear that these guys knew nothing about SENTINEL. They were given nothing but some fake leaked information about the dissent in ZAFT and how they could successfully overthrow Lacus and reset the government. As if to prove that his theory about these guys being nothing but pawns and diversion for SENTINEL, Shiho Hahenfuss came bursting into his office and told him that the whole Supreme Council had been destroyed in a series bomb blasts. The attack had killed 23 people including another 3 council members, who also happened to be on the moderate wing, preferring peace over annihilation of the naturals. She also added that the Clyne Manor was also raided by an unknown group shortly before the bomb blasts occurred, but this time around there were no casualties. Council members Eileen Canaver and Ezalia Joule were currently under the protection of the Joule squad in a safe-house.

Then as if to further prolong the ordeal, Dearka walked in with a serious face and said "Things just got a lot worse Yzak, 13 of the 47 commanders present in Sextillus were killed. 5 in another series of bomb blasts, 3 died with a bullet in their head, and the rest were killed when their shuttle went missing on its way here. All of the others are either heading to their respective bases in the PLANTS or going into hiding. Surprisingly enough, the Sextillus ZAFT base has yet to hear anything about all this, so either they have been infiltrated by the enemy or the enemy has managed to take over our communication network. Looking at this SENTINEL's actions, I think its quite obvious that they are trying to kill the pink princess in order to take over the PLANTS."

"I can figure that much out by myself, Thank you very much" shouted Yzak. "Regardless of that, we have to protect the PLANTS from that EA fleet. If they attack us then there is definitely going to be another war. We can worry about our government after we have dealt with those stupid naturals." As soon as he finished, he stormed out of his office heading straight to his ship, The Nebula_. _

Like the Ptolemy, the Nebula was also a one of a kind ship. Using his influence he had it built from scratch using a Nazca class ships frames but with the weapons systems from the Minerva. He also had the ship fitted with extra thrusters for extra speed, almost quite as fast as the Ptolemy and the Eternal.

As soon as he got onto the bridge he ordered the ship to launch and join up with the ZAFT's defense line. By the time the ship got to the defense line and headed to the front, Yzak, Dearka and Shiho had already launched in their custom made Astraea units. The Astraea was ZAFT's new top of the line mobile suit built only for the top ranking officers. Originally designed by Kira Yamato to be highly maneuverable and fast mobile suit rather than a heavily armed unit, Yzak had gotten his squads suits customized with extra missile launchers and beam sabers, unlike the usual models that featured only a single beam sword, a shield and a beam rifle.

Slowly Yzak could make out the approaching figures of the earth forces fleet, there were eight cruiser class ships and about twelve smaller support ships. Around them there were around fifty strike daggers. There were about thirty-eight ZAFT mobile suits present along with five Nazca class ships and the Nebula. Yzak smirked as he figured that this fight would be an easy one considering the superior abilities of the coordinators, especially since the earth forces seemed to be underestimating them so badly by sending out such a small attack force. Both sides faced off as Yzak waited for them to make the first move. He had taken command of this battle and has asked his forces to wait for the enemy to make the first move because he did not want the PLANTS to be the one to break the treat and start a war. His wish was granted as the enemy fleet charged them while firing their cannons.

Both sides launched and engaged in battle, lighting up the space in several coloured blasts. Yzak and Dearka boosted their thrusters and headed straight towards the enemy ships. Yzak quickly took out his beam saber and cut through any unlucky dagger that approached him. Going to full speed he dodged several attack from the Agamemnon class ship, then quickly using his rear thrusters he dipped blow the ship, then taking out his beam sword he made a long cut across the whole belly of the ship resulting in a huge explosion that destroyed the ship. Next he swerved right and headed straight to the next two warships which he dispatched efficiently by using his beam rifle to send bulls eye shots into their bridges and engines.

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><p>Meanwhile Dearka had taken out his upgraded beam rifle and used it to shoot down the nearby strike daggers. Then he pressed a button in his cockpit that disengaged the power limiter on his beam rifle. He had gotten his rifle upgraded so that it could function as a long distance sniper rifle, but its power consumption was too high such that it would drain his battery in 20 shots even when fully charged, so he had gotten a power limiter installed so that he could use it as a sniper only if he wanted to. With trained precision Dearka took aim at the bridges of the many Drake-class ships in the enemy fleet and took them out with just one shot per ship. With in a few minutes the enemy had only 3 Agamemnon class ships and 2 Drake class ships. Their mobile suits had also taken a heavy blow as there were only 10 or so daggers left to stand up against a now reinforced ZAFT force. Seeing the reinforcements the enemy fleet hurriedly signaled a retreat.<p>

Yzak would have like to finish them out but he held himself back as that would only make things worse. The treaty had been broken, the PLANTs supreme council and the ZAFT command had almost been wiped out in the surprise terrorist attacks. This had been a heavy blow but it was the kind that would most certainly lead to war, especially since the Earth Alliance fleet had shown up simultaneously as if trying to take the blame. The worst part was that they could not even prove the existence of this SENTINEL yet, to prove that it was them who were behind the attack. He was suddenly brought out of his thoughts when Dearka asked him to switch his communication channel to listen to the announcement from the PLANTS, that left him speechless.

It was an announcement on the news from the Supreme Council Member, Leon Aifman "...The perpetrators behind attacks have been found to be none other than the Naturals once again. In their savage attack they have claimed the lives of many of our valiant soldiers. The bomb blasts in Aprillus have taken the lives of many of my closest friends who also served on the Supreme Council. Worst of all, it is with great pain that I must inform you that Lacus Clyne is missing. We must stand firm for now is the time that we finally set things rights. For years we have fought with the naturals for no reason other than their prejudice and jealousy against our superior abilities. We have tried to live along side them in peace in the same world like Chairman Durandal wished for, but that turned out to be a disaster in which thousands of our fellow coordinators lost their lives. Lacus Clyne has tried to ensure peace as well and even that failed when it ended up starting the second valentine war. Yet following her principles, the PLANTS remained firm and tried for peace even at the end of the 2nd war but look at how that turned out. Just months after the end of the war, even after signing the peace treaty, they dare attack us for no reason, other than their foolish animosity towards us? I believe its time we bring peace to the PLANTS and humanity. We cannot afford to lose more lives in pointless wars, it is time we put an end to this conflict, and the only way to do so is the way envisioned by Patrick Zala, to completely eradicate the sources of all conflict. Naturals that seek more wars, Neutral nations that side with both sides for their own gain, are all sources of conflict. I wish for peace and the best way to attain it is for humanity to evolve. We will start a new age of coordinators, and when everyone is equal then there will be no conflict. Thus I besiege you all to help me and support me as we start a new era in human civilization"

The announcement ended up leaving Yzak furious as he thought about the how absurd Leon's ideals were but it was the closing statement that completely astounded him when the anchor said "That was the announcement from the new Chairman of the PLANTS Supreme Council, Leon Aifman, who was elected unanimously by the Council just minutes ago."

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><p><strong>C.E 76 Lagrange 3, Ptolemy<strong>

Lacus sat still in on the bridge. There was a tense environment there as everyone thought about what was going to unfold from now on. Leon Aifman was the last person Lacus wanted in the chairmans seat. He had always exhibited a deep hatred towards the naturals for reasons unknown and had opposed Siegel Clyne in any way possible. When Lacus had looked into his past, she found out that he was an ardent supporter of Patrick Zala's principles. The speed at which things unfolded, and how he was elected as chairman after only the Council members who would have opposed had been killed, suggested to Lacus that he might have been the one behind all this. She wondered if all of this was all along the lines of SENTINEL's plan or if things had just worked out in their favor.

"We will be arriving at the rendezvous point Indigo Delta in 2 minutes Captain" Said Akira, the Ptolemy's pilot.

"Detecting heat signal, rapidly approaching from 3 O'clock. Heat silhouette matches a cruiser class warship, it's the Eternal!" said Meyrin from the CIC. Ryo nodded once then gave out new orders, "Go down to level 2 battle stations, disengage and power down both the Tannhouser's and the Phase Shift Armor. Shut down the Synergy Drive and reroute the power to the thrusters from the 2nd engine directly. Reroute the 1st engine's power to the cooling systems for the synergy drive, Tannhauser's and the Phase shift armor systems. Next plot the fastest route to Heliopolis and proceed at 96% of our full thrust so that the Eternal can match our velocity." Next he turned to lacus and said ", we should be fine now. I doubt that we will encounter any enemies this far out. You should rest until we get to Heiopolis. If you would like, I can escort you to a room." Lacus looked at Ryo and smiled slightly. "Yes, I would like that. Please lead the way" She said in a tired and strained voice as she got up and followed Ryo to the door.

They walked in complete silence until they reached a door which read "Commander Kira Yamato". "Im afraid that the Ptolemy is a smaller ship compared to the Archangel and the Eternal. All of the other rooms are full and this is the only empty one. Besides Im sure that the commander would have wanted you to use it if he were here. Also would you like something to eat, ?" Said Ryo. "Im fine, thank you though, Ryo" said Lacus as she entered the room. With a gentle noise the door slid back and closed as Ryo walked back to the bridge. Slowly she looked around the room. The room was rectangular, a bit bigger than the other rooms on board. The walls were metallic with a slight tinge of blue and the floor was grey. In front of the door was a work desk attached in a L-shape to the wall. On the other end was a white sheet clad bed which was the size of two bunk beds put side to side. There was also a small reading table beside the head of the bed and soft leather couch between the bed and the work desk. There was also an attached bathroom with a tub and shower cabin.

What attracted Lacus's attention was Kira's work desk. Slowly as she sat on his chair, her eyes immediately landed on the three pictures he kept on his desk amidst a pile of paperwork. The first was a picture of Kira and Athrun as little kids, next was the picture of Kira and Cagalli as babies being held by their mother. The last picture was a close up of her's. It was from the first time she and Kira had gone out alone, to watch the sunset at the beach in ORB after the 2nd war had ended. As she saw that picture memories of the times spent with Kira came to mind. She felt so lonely and powerless as she thought about how drastically things had changed in the span of one day. She had lost her loved one, she lost her home, her people, her nation. Finally being alone allowed her to show her emotions which she normally hid from the outside world. The only people who knew this part of her were Kira, Athrun and Cagalli, none of whom were present there to comfort her. Slowly tear after tear escaped her eyes as she let out her emotions and cried. "Please be alive Kira. Please. Come back to me, back to my side. Quickly." She thought as she finally cried herself to sleep with her head resting on the desk.

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><p><strong>C.E 76 Kingdom of Scandinavia<strong>

"My Inheritance?" asked Kira as he looked down at the brown box in his hands. Eliza had taken it out of a hidden wall safe just moments ago "Yes, now why dont you open it before you start asking me any more questions" Said Eliza in a soft tone. Slowly he opened the box to find two more boxes containing one emerald studded silver necklace and a silver ring studded with a pretty blue stone, unlike anything he had ever seen. Beneath were two cards attached to the jewelry, they addressed to Kira and Cagalli Hibiki. Taking them out with extreme care, he slowly opened them. They read,

_Dear Kira and Cagalli,_

_We wanted you both to know that we love you both so much more than words can express and we hope that you will both have a wonderful life. We will always be looking out for both of you. We hope that despite the many obstacles and trials that await you in your future, you will be able to overcome them and come out triumphantly._

_Ulen, Via and Sakura Hibiki_

_Kira, _

_This ring is something we hope that you will someday be able to give the person you cherish the most in this world, the one who thinks of you in the same way. This ring is also a sign of my remorse, and I hope that someday you will be able to find it in your heart to forgive me for my actions. Kira Hibiki or Yamato, know that I will always love you, no matter what, so will the world._

_Ulen Hibiki._

After reading them he slowly closed the box and put it on the table beside his bed. He looked up at Eliza and smiled. "I never really blamed him for what I am... In fact, right now Im grateful because it has allowed me to protect the ones dear to me." Said Kira.

Eliza nodded at that then said "Well, that was supposed to be your inheritance if we lived in a peaceful and safe world by now. Unfortunately thats not the case and Via knew that, thats why she left something else behind that I would give you so only if the situation demanded it, so let me give you what you actually came down to earth for. Well for starters I need you to get into this wheel chair as your still not well enough to walk. Jenna can you help me out here please" Hearing her name, Jenna who had been standing by the door until now rushed forward and helped Kira into the wheel chair.

As soon as he moved, Kira felt his body stiffen up with pain. By the time he got into the wheel chair his body was aching all over but it was when he looked under his shirt that he saw his bandages were slowly turning a dark shade of red.

"Its has been 9 days already, shouldn't wounds have closed already?" asked Kira

Eliza looked at him unreadable yet sad face, "Not really, in fact you should be dead. When the Freedom was destroyed by the mega particle cannon, you were exposed to lethal levels of radiation. Luckily you were able to withstand it due to your enhanced body. But even so, that has put an enormous strain on your body so thats probably why your wounds are taking a lot longer to heal. Anyway, we are pressed for time, so this cant be helped, just bear with it for now and try not to move too much. Lets get going then" Said Eliza.

With Eliza in the lead and Jenna pushing his wheelchair they walked quickly into the hall of the house and then into what looked like a study-library. There Eliza typed in a special code in a keypad in the wall that moved one of the book racks revealing an elevator. They then went down about 18 stories when the doors opened into a dimly lit room. As jenna pushed his wheel chair forward, Eliza went to the right and switched on the lights.

Then as the flash from the lights cleared from his eyes, in front of him at the other end of what was clearly a hangar, stood proudly the unmistakeable figure of a Gundam.

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><p>Kira had always thought about it but the idea that his mother had left him a mobile suit was simply unimaginable. This gundam was unlike any other mobile suit he had seen so far. It had the same kind of face as the freedom, but it had 3 horns instead of the usual two on its forehead. It had sharp golden eyes and was slightly taller than the Strike Freedom. It also had 10 wings attached but as he got to looking around at its back he saw that it had two large sliver oval shaped studs coming out of the Gundams shoulders with the wings being able to rotate about it. Kira also noted that this Gundam had larger and more number of thrusters compared to the freedom. But most striking difference of all was that, above both arms, attached to the shoulder were 2 large triangular shaped shields. (AN : Like in the 00 Quan [T] Full Saber)

Then between them and the arms was a long double edged sword, present on both sides. The sword would normally fit into the underside of the sheild but it looked like it had been disengaged, probably for maintenance.

As he kept examining it, Eliza came over and said "Well my husband is here to give you the specs as I dont know the first thing about mobile suits." As she said that a man with short black hair came over from the elevator they had just come down in, and stood beside Eliza. Kira's eyes widened as he recognized the designer who had developed the Strike Freedom and the mechanic who had worked with him on the Eternal in the last war. "Alan? Alan Robbins? Your Eliza's husband?" asked Kira in shock.

Alan just nodded while smiling and said "And I might mention, your favorite uncle as well. Anyway, I hear that we are very pressed for time, so lets get to work then catch up on our family ties later. Let me get you up to date with you new mobile suit. First lets start in the cockpit." Kira nodded his approval as Jenna pushed him onto an elevator that lifted him up to the cockpit which like the freedom was located higher up above the chest. Slowly Eliza and Alan helped him into the cockpit which was the same color of light blue as the Freedom's, which made him smile a bit.

When he was comfortably settled in the rather large and wide seat, Kira finally noticed how different the cockpit was. Originally, when he figured that this was a gift from Via Hibiki he imagined that it would be equipped with old and outdated technology. What Kira saw in front of him was undoubtedly state of the art technology, maybe even some stuff that was years ahead of anything thats out there. Crouching down Alan got into the cockpit and crouched beside the pilots seat. When he saw the surprised look on Kira's face he said "Surprised arnt you? Bet you expected your mother to leave you outdated technology didn't you? Well, fat chance of that happening. Via Hibiki was probably the smartest person in her generation, natural or coordinator. Before she married Ulen and went into genetics she was the worlds leading engineer in several fields. Later on Sakura inherited both Ulen's and Via's talent, she was beyond genius. Within a few years she was one of the, if not THE best quantum physicist around. This machine we are in right now is the final product of the Eternity Project. When they found out about the existence of SENTINEL and their goals which we will talk about later, Via and Sakura secretly developed the Eternity as a last line of defense for you and the world. SENTINEL is powerful Kira, Very powerful, not because of their mobile suits but because of their influence and power. Via only wanted to protect you, and the best way to do so was to have your existence sealed away. With that, Via reasoned that you would need power should there ever come a time for you to stand up to them, and the answer to her question is this suit here.

This suit is made up of a special Carbon-E and Gundarium Composite that gives it significantly higher levels of protection, it also happens to be ideal for Phase Shift armor so while using PS armor its amplifies its protective power. The Eternity as it happens was can only be used by you and you alone. The various systems installed will only activate and respond to commands given when you are in the cockpit.. He then reached out and started up the gundam by pressing a large red and yellow button on the control panel. Within seconds the cockpit lit up and the OS started up.

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><p><strong>GENETIC UNLIMITED NUCLEAR DRIVE ASSAULT MODULE<strong>

G.U.N.D.A.M Complex

**ZGMF-X45AS**

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><p>"Kira, Do you know what the main limitation is for a nuclear powered mobile suit like the Freedom or Justice is?" asked Alan. After thinking for a second Kira replied "The fact that even though the power is limitless, there is a limit on the amount of power supplied at any given time to the systems and weapons. Also there is an incredible amount of heat build up that inhibits the power output."<p>

"Exactly right Kira. But what if I told you that this suit has nine times the power output of the Strike Freedom when using just one of its power sources?" asked Alan.

"What? How is that even possible?" asked Kira in return, quite shocked with Alan's reply.

Then Alan explained, "There are different systems available to overcome those problems you mentioned. One way is when you use 2 reactors like in the LOGOS Gundam Destroy then you will get, say around 1+1 = 2 units of power. But that method makes the units unreasonably large. The SENTINEL Gundam's use a more advanced reactor called the dual core reactor that merges two nuclear reactors together to square the power output rather than adding it up as in 3+3 = 6 units of power but with a dual core you would get 3*3 = 9 units of power. Theoretically and Practically a dual core reactor is the limit as any more power in a space as small as a mobile suit would cause a meltdown or a giant nuclear explosion. But, Via went even further. With Sakura's, Mr. Clyne's and Uzumi Nara Athha's help she was able to design a new drive system called the Geo-Nuclear Drive (GN Drive) which is what you saw behind this suit's shoulders. This development was a gamble as it was based on the fact that the PLANTS would actually deploy the N-Jammers they had been working on back then.

"The GN drive uses the N-Jammers to provide the suit with an almost limitless amount of power. The N-Jammers work by spreading antimatter particles that compress the atom at the quantum level thus preventing fission while allowing fusion, although only in large fusion power plants. The GN drive use a secret technology developed in the Jupiter project, where the drive uses the N-Jammers power to further compress the atoms to the point where it converts a part of its mass into energy. This reaction allows it to compress electrons into GN particles that while providing a large amount of energy disrupt other high intensity energy forms like positron cannons and laser beams. Its this stabilizing ability that allowed Via to develop the Eternity's Quad-Core Hyper Deuterion Nuclear Reactor. This reactor can produce up to 4*4 = 16 units of power, which when compared to the Strike Freedom, equals 9 times the amount of power. I said this was a gamble because the GN drives need the N-Jammers to work at maximum efficiency but at that time we had no idea if the N-Jammers would be deployed all over the world like they are now.

"Next, we have another trademark feature, developed by your older sister. Sakura developed the Hybrid-Synergy Drive that combines the energy from the Quad-Core reactor and the 2 GN Drives. This system allows the suit to have maximum power output with the minimal amount of heat production. The system also allows for higher energy intensity in the weapon systems because of the GN particles stabilizing nature. At full power all of the weapons can resonate to fire Legacy. Legacy is your strongest weapon. It fires a shot with as much power as a Hyper Mega Particle Cannon from a warship. The only difference is that the shot is thinner but its power is undiminished."

"Furthermore, the whole mobile suit is built out of a full body Psyco frame that resonates your quantum brainwaves, allowing for a significantly higher spatial awareness, faster reactions and so on. The Psyco frame integrates the quantum computing system with a Psycommu system that allows greater and faster control of the DRAGOON units. Finally the cockpit has another hidden system. Its called the Emotion Drive. It was developed by Sakura but I have no idea what it does or if it's actually even there. The only thing she ever told anyone was that it was the only way to bring forth the suits full power when truly needed. She did say once that at the normal level of activation (50%) the Emotion Drive allows for you to control the basic movements of the mobile suit with just your thoughts."

"This suit also incorporates a combined version of the Wings of Light and Voiture Lumiere Systems for 3x acceleration that you would get with any one of those systems. All that with minimal power consumption. The only problem there is, is that the G-Forces experienced by the pilot can cause muscle fatigue and other problems if they actually go faster than 2x."

"Well thats most of it. I was supposed to pass on these sensitive details to from Via and Sakura to their beloved little Kira and I've just kept my 17 year old promise. But then again, there is another message I have for you, from Ulen Hibiki, your father." Said Alan in a serious tone. "Kira you know that you're the ultimate coordinator right? Well, thats not all there is. Ulen was an ambitious man Kira, when he perfected you genes he also added some new ones that resulted in what he called as the as the SEED Factor. The SEED is a special gene that allows people to go into their highest state of spatial awareness which is normally locked for humans. In a way, you can say that it allows you to use more potential of your brain than what you normally used. This state can be induced at times of great emotional stress, be it from fear or anger or anything else. SEED enhances spatial awareness by increasing the number of quantum brainwaves. You have the highest SEED factor but there are a few others with this skill. The easiest way to tell if your in the SEED mode is if your pupils become dilated. The side effect of the SEED is that it lays a heavy burden on the brain and in-turn on your body. Worst case scenario it can even leave you brain dead. The systems in this suit are also like the SEED, they increase you strength but they are a huge burden on your mind and body. Emotion Drive or not, Ulen asked me to tell you that if you ever activate more than a few systems at once then the strain on your body can be extremely severe and thats if you were in top physical condition. In your current state you would almost certainly die. The last thing you father asked me to pass on to you is that, this suit was developed to fight SENTINEL but its up to you and you alone, wether you decide to use it to protect the ones dear to you or if you end up protecting the world. Its your choice."

"Well, Kira, thats about it, your done with you lesson, now all you have to do is name this baby, update the OS and get back to that pink princess of yours" Said Alan back in his cheerful tone.

Kira took a minute to digest all the information, then after a moment's thought he said "Well, then Gundam Eternity here will be known as the **ZGMF-X45AS Eternal Freedom**"

"Eternal Freedom eh? I like the ring of that Even though this one was the first one to be built and served as the basic model for the other Freedom's" Said Alan as he slowly got out of the cockpit. "Well, Kira I'll leave the OS to you, and I'll go down and finish the last bit of maintenance on this guy here, so that he will be in top shape by tomorrow. Unfortunately although this suit is has an amazing number of weapons, almost none of them are installed. I got hold of it with just the GN Drives, reactor and frame, as Via never got to finish it. I tried to finish the suit according to the original plans while updating it with the latest technology but I couldn't install most of the weapons as they need to be specially made to use the energy from Synergy drive. You can finish it in space as you will have more resources than me. Ill just try to make do with what we have to let you get back into space with the booster rockets. Call me once your done"

"Ok, Thank you Alan" Said Kira as he took out the keyboard and got right to work. "Smiling at seeing him work diligently, Alan got onto the elevator and went down to finish his work."

As Alan got down he saw Eliza walking towards him. As she came closer, he talked to her in a low voice, "I see that you still didn't tell him." Eliza avoided his gaze and looked down as she said "We cant be sure of it. Telling him will just make it harder on him and its bad enough as it is."

"I know Eliza. But he has to got know and he will get to know sometime in the future even if we dont tell him. I will tell him, before he leaves for space" Said Alan, as Eliza nodded and walked to the elevator where Jenna was waiting for her.

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><p>Finally after a few hours of tedious work Kira stowed the keyboard. It had taken him lesser time that he had originally thought because most of the new systems were perfectly tuned, no doubt by his mother and elder sister. All he had to do was merge the original systems with the newer ones added by Alan. Once he finished he slowly and painfully crawled out of the cockpit and onto the mini lift. As he got down on to the floor from the cockpit he was met by Alan who got him into the wheel chair and took him back to his room upstairs in the house, and eventually onto his bed. Once there he sat down in a chair beside Kira's bed and talked to him.<p>

"Kira, as you already know we dont stay in touch with the outside world because we are afraid communication will reveal our location to our enemies. And thats also why we have not contacted Lacus Clyne or ORB about you. Well, the truth is that it's not our enemies, but just mine. After SENTINEL was formed Siegel Clyne and Uzumi Attha tried to suppress and eliminate them before they could do any real damage. Then by Ulen's suggestion I became a double agent and joined SENTINEL to infiltrate them and gather intelligence. Unfortunately I was exposed within a few months after they killed the Hibiki's and everyone related to the Ultimate Coordinator project. Ever since then in-order to protect my family from them I've gone into hiding. They have grown larger and more powerful every year which has made things harder and harder for us, but we had to stay hidden at-least until we could give the Eternal Freedom to you. The only exception being when I worked as a mechanic on the eternal for that one battle in the second war."

"SENTINEL wants to kill me because I know too much about them and also because they want to get their hands on the Eternal Freedom. Somehow they realized that Via had left it with me, and since then they have done everything in their power to get their hands on it" Said Alan.

"What exactly is it that they want?" asked Kira

"Its simple, they just want the Freedom its for its great power or in other words the, Hybrid Synergy Drive. But they also want to kill you. SENTINEL plans to start a new war to achieve their goals. A war greater than any other, and in that war they want to destroy the very basis of our current civilization. They believe that in doing so, mankind will be forced start their journey from scratch again, and this time SENTINEL plans to guide them to establish a new and peaceful world where everyone knows their place in society thus eliminating conflict. Its similar to what Durandal tried to do, but unlike the Destiny Plan these guys plan to eliminate all opposition or the people they deem unfit for their new world by killing them in the war. They have always stayed in the shadows until now and have used Blue Cosmos and LOGOS as a front for their work, but now they have come out into the open. Thats all I know about their plan but I do know that their leader Banagher Links knew your father. Although Im unaware of the full details, he absolutely hated your father and in the end he was the one responsible for sending Rau Le Creuset to kill your parents, and its probably the same reason that drove them to try and kill you."

"I've also just gotten a message from one of my informants that Lacus Clyne was attacked in the PLANTS yesterday" Said Alan. Kira's eyes opened in shock and fear as his body tensed up when he heard that, but before he could ask about anything else Alan continued "Dont worry. She is safe. I believe she got to Heliopolis on the Ptolemy and I was also told that Athrun Zala and Cagalli have also gone up there to meet her" Kira relaxed considerably as he heard that. The trusted Athrun to keep them both safe, but he was still anxious and eager to get back by her side.

"I think that their attack on Lacus was a part of their plan. They want to dispose of all of the factions leaders to throw the countries into chaos. They used an EA fleet for this attack that will cause ZAFT to retaliate. And without a stable government they will not even bother to clear things up with the alliance before attacking. I think SENTINEL plans to destroy the governments of all of the factions soon, in-order to start a big and bloody war. Even though ZAFT is in chaos now, they will still go after Lacus and try to kill her like they did with the Strike Freedom because she is a symbol of peace. As long as she is alive, people will follow her and over the last few years TERMINAL had gotten strong enough to pose a threat to SENTINEL by being able to stop the impending war. It's a similar case with Cagalli and ORB too."

"Something has to be done to stop them before its too late. I think you are the only one who can stop them Kira. Be it for revenge for your parents or for Lacus or for the world. Either way you must go back and quickly. I know your not yet healed but you have to get back up there as soon as possible because knowing SENTINEL they will attack as soon as possible."

Nodding in approval, Kira said "I know that Alan, please arrange for me to go back as soon as possible. And also thank you for saving me back then and for everything else you have done for me" "Sure, I'll have the Eternal Freedom ready in a few hours. Just get some sleep until then." Said Alan as he got up and left.

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><p><strong>Author's Note : <strong>Well I hope you enjoyed it. At some point it became too long so I split it into two chapter and skimmed them down. I wasnt comfortable with writing from Yzak's POV but I hope its decent enough. Next chapter will have some definite K x L so look forward to that. I will also have some good action when the Eternal Freedom makes it Debut... (Will also post its Specs at the end of the next chapter)

If you can Please Review regarding the fight scenes and the character POV's... Also Ill be sure to answer any of your doubts regarding the story too. So be sure to Review!

Next Chapter : **Reunion**

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><p><strong> Aizawa Li Syaoran : <strong>Well I hope you now know how Kira is going to fight! But its not going to be so easy for him... I hope you will Like the Eternal Freedom... I plan to make it an epic mobile suit... Look forward to the next chapter! an thanks for the Reviews! Keep them coming!

** Katosuki : **Well to be honest, I got the idea from Librarian Works but you have my word that SENTINEL is nothing like them. Itl become clear in the next chapters as they have a very... very dark past and goals... They are actually connected to Kira in a lot of ways too... Hope you like it so far! Keep reading!

** Zen X67 :** Thanks for the advice! Ill try... and glad you liked the other Gundams, as it makes it easy for me too!


	5. Phase 5 : Reunion

****Author's Note : I know this had been very very late... but I just had too much 'Mandatory / boring/ useless/ Work", Writers Block... Have most of the next chapter done... Just trying to research some confessions first... Hint* Hint*****

****I Swear upon the work I have right now... That I will get "CH 6 : Dark Revelations" uploaded before DECEMBER 23rd, 2011... Thanks for your Patience, Im sorry about the eh.. 20 day delay... My fault... I have not and will not give up on this story... Dont you either! R & R people... More motivation / Reviews = Better Results! Enjoy!  
><strong>**

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><p><strong>Chapter 5 : Reunion<strong>

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><p><strong>C.E 76 Heliopolis Ship Hangar, Ptolemy<strong>

Slowly the door to the Commanders room slid open as Cagalli and Athrun stepped inside. As soon as he entered the room Athrun noticed Lacus fast asleep in a chair with her head resting on Kira's work desk. Next he saw the picture she was holding onto with her right hand, it was a picture of her up close, that Kira had kept on his desk. Judging by the scene in before of him, he concluded that Lacus must have cried herself to sleep, so he quietly took Cagalli's hand and gently guided her to the couch in middle of the room, where they sat down waiting for Lacus to wake up.

When Athrun had been talking to Lacus previously before the attack, Cagalli had called Commander La Flaga and his Murrue. After talking to them and getting them up to date with the situation, they had decided that with Kira missing, Lacus was in greater danger from Sentinel and with the recent attack on the Kingdom of Scandinavia Captain Ramius figured that Sentinel would be targeting other neutral nations like ORB as well. Since Heliopolis was out in space, it was nowhere near as well protected as the mainland so Cagalli asked her to launch the Archangel once again and protect Heliopolis from any space threats.

A few hours after the attack on the PLANTS began Cagalli and Athrun had rushed off to Kaguya to meet up with the Archangel and most of the original crew who had returned once again, in order to help set the world on the right path and away from unnecessary wars. Once in space, Athrun flew him and Cagalli in the Justice, to Heliopolis since it was faster than the Archangel. Thanks to the Justice's speed they had arrived just minutes after the Ptolemy and Eternal had finished docking. Quickly docking and shutting down the Justice, Athrun rushed off towards the Blue-grey ship, only to run into Ryo Ardae who in-turn guided them towards Lacus's room.

Turning to Athrun, Cagalli asked "What do we say to her at a time like this?" "We have to support her. Without Kira, she needs our help more than ever before. Lacus is the last person who is capable of preventing this from becoming a full blown war" Said Athrun with a deep and serious look on his face. Cagalli nodded in agreement and looked back at Lacus only to see her waking up.

Slowly Lacus woke up only to see Athrun and Cagalli looking at her with concern. Surprised she asked them "A-Athrun, Cagalli! What are you doing here? Where are we?" Athrun replied "It's okay Lacus. Were on the Ptolemy, which just docked at Heliopolis. After the attack we decided that Sentinel would be more likely to attack Heliopolis because it's a vulnerable neutral state. We got the Archangel to launch once again and defend the colony. Cagalli is here to organize the colony for the impending attack, and I got the Justice here because it's the only chance we have against those guys, especially after what happened to..." He trailed off as he realized what he was about to say, but the damage was done. Lacus's eyes went dark as she lowered her head and sat there silently.

After elbowing athrun in the side of the chest and glaring at him, Cagalli went to Lacus and said "Lacus, No-matter what Im sure Kira is still alive, and he will come back to your side. My little brother wont die that easily, you of all people should know that right? I promise you this Lacus." Lacus looked up with her eyes full of tears. "Will he Cagalli? Its all my fault after-all. Its because of me that he joined the military once again. Its for my sake that he went down to earth in the first place. I was the one who got to busy with work to even see him. I wanted to establish a peaceful world where Kira would not have to feel the pain of war anymore. I wanted to stop him from ever having to fight again, but because of me, now he's gone, and another war is starting. Will he want to return, even though he knows that there is nothing but more fighting left for him here?"

It pained Cagalli to see Lacus like this. The usual composed and calm Lacus was gone, replaced by her real self and her real fears. Cagalli smiled as she figured that the pain Lacus was feeling was a sign of how close Kira and Lacus had gotten after the second war. Athrun gently added "Lacus, Im sure Kira knows what's ahead, but I know he will come back, because he's left something very precious back here." "Speaking from experience Athrun?" asked Cagalli with a slight smirk. "Maybe" said Athrun with a slight blush. Lacus looked at the kind smile on Cagalli's and Athrun's face as she tried to make sense of what he had just said, but before she could Ryo Ardae's voice rang out throughout the ship.

"Unknown Silouhettes have been detected by our deep space probe. They are rapidly approaching Heliopolis. Engagement in 10 minutes"

"All hands to level one Battle Stations! Activate the Phase Shift armor and prepare the ship for launch. Athrun-sama, the Archangel has requested you to get to the Justice immediately. Cagalli and Lacus-sama please come to the bridge immediately."

Athrun's eyes narrowed as her heard the announcement. Truning to Lacus and Cagalli he said "If this is Sentinel then its going to get rough. The Ptolemy is the safest place for you to be right now if they plan to attack the colony. I'll instruct this ship to stay at the rear and escape in-case something happens." Cagalli then said "Athrun, you have to win. We cant let Heliopolis fall a second time. I wont let millions of innocent people die to satisfy the desires of some crazy lunatics"

"Don't worry Cagalli. I'll be fine, besides we have to protect Lacus until Kira gets back? So lets go, we cant waste anymore time" Quickly kissing Cagalli on the forehead, he left while a slightly red Cagalli and Lacus headed to the bridge.

Once Cagalli and Lacus reached the bridge they got details regarding the situation from Meyrin and Ryo. Up on the screen, from the Archangel Murrue gave out instructions to the fleet and the inexperienced captain of the Ptolemy. "We will spread out so that we can intercept any attacks on the colony. The Ptolemy is a strong ship, but they will be aiming for it for the same reason, not to metion the fact that they might be after Cagallia and Miss. Lacus. So its better to have you at the back and edge of the battle field. You can provide long distance cover with missiles and the Lohengrin if needed. As soon as she finished Athrun came online from the Justice and added on. "Ryo, launch the mobile suits on-board only once we are clear of how many enemies we are face up against. Im sure they will split up and target the colony as well. In that case use the suits onboard to defend the colony. Dont launch the Destiny or Impulse until you come under direct attack. We all will protect you, but if we fail and they come to you, then have Shinn and Luna protect the ship. Use them as a cover and head to orb as fast as possible. We did not detect a mother ship, so its unlikely that they will follow you down there."

Ryo nodded but Cagalli couldn't help but ask "Athrun, should we save you in such a situation?" Athruns face softened as he said "Cagalli, Lacus has to live to stop the war. Besides, this is the worst case scenario. And Im quite sure that if it got to that point, then there wouldnt be anything left to save. Thats it. See you all in a bit...Everyone Head out... "

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><p>Within 5 minutes, the Justice was powered up and lined up in front of the Ptolemy, Eternal and Archangel. There were 4 Space adapted Murasame's and the Akatsuki which was in front of the Ptolemy. The 3 Dom troopers from the Eternal were assigned to protect the ships from other mobile suits. Within a few minutes the silhouettes of about 20 mobile suits appeared in the distance. Athrun quickly noticed that there were 2 mobile suits that looked like large green Zaku's but at the base of the neck they had 4 body sized shields surrounding them like a cloak. The rest were all Strike Daggers but at the very end was a white and blue winged Gundam. Athrun's eyes widened in surprise as he looked at what was copy of the Freedom but then his eyes picked out the difference. This Gundam had only 4 long Drill like Wings pointing back. Its eyers were a dark green and the shoulders were streaked with red. It had the hip mounted cannons and beam rifles attached on the arms. But this suit unlike the original freedom had a strange kind of plated armor resembling a Medieval Knight. Apart from this the gundam had a striking resemblance to the Freedom in terms of body structure.<p>

Once they got close enough to firing range, Athrun received a communication from the enemy. "My name is Keith Anian. Im the pilot of the Lancelot Gundam, do you copy Athrun Zala, pilot of the Infinite Justice?" Athrun was shocked to say the least. He had expected some communication but not something so civil, gathering his thoughts he replied, "I can hear you Keith Anian. You are within Heliopolis's neutral airspace without permission. State your purpose and allegiance"

"Athrun, surely your intelligence has given you enough information to answer those questions right? I am not an enemy, unless you follow my instructions. Hand over Lacus Clyne or we will destroy Heliopolis along with her." said Keith in a dark tone.

Athrun was stunned, he asked back "Is this Sentinel's next objective? Eliminate Lacus to make it easy to start a new war? Are you crazy? Do you really think we will hand her over that easily? Do you really think a new war will accomplish anything?" "Well, you do know about us! That means there is nothing more left to discuss, is there... I'll take that reply as a no Athrun Zala. Cant say I didn't try not to kill you. Its unfortunate that you decided to sacrifice the lives of everyone in that colony for one misguided girl" Said Keith with his voice rising, clearly in anger. As expected, the next thing that happened was the flash of the Gundam's green eyes before it blasted straight towards the Justice. Behind it, Athrun could see the Strike Daggers headed towards the colonies while the weird Zaku's attacked the ships.

While flying towards him, the Lancelot, it drew one of its wings, shaped like a long drill / lance. Either way, Athrun knew that he did not want it to hit him. Quickly maneuvering the Justice, Athrun side stepped the lunging mobile suit and tried to slash him with his own beam saber. Before he could even pull out the beam saber, the Lancelot seemed to stop instantly, then in an instantly 2 short blades on the forearm swung out, with an un-real speed it slashed the Justice's left arm off at the elbow. Simultaneously the hip-mounted cannons swung up and fired at point blank range, straight into the Justices torso. The resulting blast of the arm blowing up, coupled with the blast from the cannons propelled the Justice away from the Lancelot. The shock wave hit Athrun hard, leaving him barely able to stay conscious. Unfortunately before he could hear Cagalli cry out "Athrun, are you okay?... Watch out he is com...", the Lancelot instantly covered the distance between them and used its own beam sabers from both hips to cut off the Justice's legs in one clean X shaped cut. The sudden resulting blast made Athrun cry out in shock, but the experience of hundreds of battles had given him some skills. Recovering quickly Athrun used his thrusters to force him down, but once again moving faster that what Athrun thought possible for a mobile suit, the Lancelot drew its lance and thrust straight into the cockpit... Luckily he missed due to Athrun's decision to go down, but nevertheless it drilled a good cut in the side of the Justice's head.

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><p>Mu frowned when he heard Keith's demands, he had suspected all along that they were after the pink princess, but for them to actually consider destroying the colony was quite unexpected. He switched the comm channel and spoke to his newly wed wife on the archangel. "Murrue, position the Archangel away from the Ptolemy and in front of the Eternal." Confused she asked back "Why? Should we be protecting Miss Lacus?" Keeping his eyes on the enemy group he answered her, "Exactly why we have to make it look like she is on the Eternal. They will buy that because it has always been the flagship of her forces. Besides, Im not sure this battle will go easily. I looked at the report from Scandinavia, and if its anything close to the truth, then the Freedom was taken down effortlessly. And as far as I know, the Kid was the best pilot I've ever seen and the Freedom was an equally powerful suit. So, lets not underestimate these guys."<p>

No sooner did he finish, the enemy suits blasted straight towards them. Taking out his beam rifle he locked on to one Strike Dagger and shot him straight into the cockpit destroying it. "Cant afford to be nice today guys" said Mu as he took out another dagger. At the edge of the battle field he saw the daggers go towards the colony and the 2 Zaku's that looked like they were on steroids came forward to attach the ships. Mu decided to intercept one of them and left the other Zaku to the Archangel. Meanwhile the 10 Mobile suits on board the Ptolemy launched to engage the Strike Daggers.

The Zaku proved to be a fast suit even though it looked incredibly bulky. The most surprising part was that the insides of the surrounding cloak like shields hid a number of Dragoons. Before he knew it, Mu was flying around tring to avoid getting hit by the incredible number of shots fired by the Dragoons. To make things worse, these units seemed to move faster and they felt smarter. They would aim at the worst possible spots making it nearly impossible to avoid taking a hit. Using his own Dragoons to create a mobile shield, Mu skillfully blocked most of the shots but when he saw the Justice get crippled by the Lancelot, the distraction caused him to get hit on the left shoulder, causing the suit to lose some of the arms capability.

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><p><strong>C.E 76 Unknown Island, Kingdom of Scandinavia (2 Hours Ago)<strong>

Kira slowly took of his shirt as Jenna unwrapped his bandages. One by one as they came off bit by bit his skin showed up, dyed a dark pink by the dried blood. His superior healing abilities were clearly at play as his previously burned skin was completely replaced by new skin. Yet the radiation had made it as delicate as paper, which could tear at the slightest stress creating new wounds. Kira felt a cold and stinging sensation on his back as Jenna slowly gave him a sponge bath. After a tedious hour filled with a painful bath, a few embarrassing moments, and new bandages, Eliza and Jenna helped Kira put on a white and blue space suit with a gold border between the blue and white.

While helping him into a wheelchair Eliza told Kira "This suit is made from a special synthetic fiber that is designed to reduce strain on your body when at extreme G's. Right now, it will help you pilot a mobile suit without killing yourself. Even so Kira, I will warn you, your body is still in a critical condition, just pinching you is enough to tear your skin open, god knows what a real battle will do."

"Im sorry Eliza. But this is something I will see through. During my stay here, I finally realized something very important about myself and why I've been fighting all this time. And it is for that same reason, that I must go back up there, no matter what the cost may be" said Kira with a deep and serious look on his face.

After letting out a noticeable sigh Eliza slowly pushed Kira's wheel chair out towards the hangar from the dressing room. As they walked across the corridor leading towards the Freedom, Jenna quietly said "Kira, you can stay for a bit longer you know. At-least until you can walk by yourself. We know that the Justice and the Archangel are at Heliopolis now, so you dont have to worry so much." Still looking straight ahead Kira replied "I know Jenna. Thank you, but I have to go. Right now, the Eternal Freedom is the only mobile suit that can stand up to the enemy Gundams, even the Justice doesn't stand much of a chance against them. And if what Alan said about Sentinel is true then thats all the more reason for me to return. I cannot allow Sentinel to start another war that will kill millions of innocent people. Also, I still think that they might have an anterior motive behind all this. All their actions so far and their objectives just dont add up, and I cant help but feel that something is fishy here."

As the door to the Hangar opened, a small but sad smile came up on Eliza's face as she saw the sad and worried look on her daughter's face. She had long since guessed Jenna's feelings towards Kira, even though she knew that it would only lead to her ending up hurt, but she decided not to intervened as it would be a good learning experience for her.

Once they reached the foot of the Gundam, Alan walked up to kira and helped him stand up. As he stood up Kira felt a striking pain in his hamstrings and his knees as his legs took his body's weight for the first time in a while. "Well Kira, this is it. The freedom is not as good as I'd hoped it would be, but It should be able to get you up into space." "I cant thank you enough Alan, all of you. I would be alive if it wasn't for your help. So, thank you. Maybe after all this is over, you can return to the PLANTS once again" Said Kira as he bowed in respect. Moving forward Eliza hugged Kira as she said, "Your the only family we have left Kira. If I cant do even this much for Via, then I would never be able to forgive myself. Now go, you've wasted enough time already." Nodding he walked towards the elevator with Jenna's help, but before she left him, she pooled her courage and quickly gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and said "Make sure you stay safe Kira." Although surprised, he replied "Thank you, Jenna. I promise I will"

Once in the cockpit he put on his helmet and closed the hatch. To his side he could see the ring and necklace given to him, tucked neatly into an empty slot by the seat. Immediately the communications came online as he heard Alan say "Kira, You know what to do. You can leave as soon as the hangar door closes behind us. We will be leaving to another safe-house right away, just in case someone sees you leave and comes over to investigate." "I will. Take care Alan" said Kira as he activated the Eternal Freedom.

**GENETIC UNLIMITED NUCLEAR DRIVE ASSAULT MODULE**

G.U.N.D.A.M Complex

**ZGMF-X45AS**

_Initiating N-Jammer Canceler Startup... Starting Quad Core Reactor Activation..._

_Quad Core Reactor Online... Output stabilized at 78%_

_Cooling module startup completed... _

_All systems online... APU power stable... GN Drive particle output set at 45%_

_Hybrid Synergy Drive set for atmospheric exit... ED initiation failed... Full burst mode unavailable..._

_All ED systems shutting down..._

_Phase Shift Armor active..._

_ZGMF-X45AS Eternal Freedom Ready For Launch_

Kira frowned as he looked at the screen. All of yesterday, no matter how many times he tried, the Emotion Drive had failed every single time. There were no bugs in the OS, yet it would never start... Luckily the Freedom was able to operate even without those modules. Without wasting anymore time, he opened the Hangar's over head hatch. As soon as the hatch opened completely, the pushed the throttle up as the Thrusters roared to life for the first time, the Eternal Freedom smoothly left the ground, then as soon as he rose out of the underground hangar, Kira let the hangar close before he ignited the rocket thrusters. With a huge blast the thrusters propelled the Gundam into outer-space, straight to Heliopolis...

On the ground, from a car speeding away from the secret hangar, Eliza could see the Blue and Gold gundam fly into the cloud cover at an unbelievable speed. She silently wished for Kira to be safe, before she turned to the driver and said "Alan, I hope your decision to avoid telling Kira about the truth behind Sentinel and its origins was a wise choice." Alan looked at his wife and quietly said "He will get to know the truth soon enough. There is no reason to burden him with that news right now. For now, in his physical condition, its better to leave his emotions clear. After all we cant risk him activating that..." "I suppose so..." Said Eliza as she looked at the long cloud formed by the Freedom's rocket thrusters.

Kira had his mouth clenched shut as his body screamed in pain. The pressure on his body due to the G-force was unbearable. The pilot suit probably helped as his wound had not opened up but it was clearly not enough to make him comfortable. Within a 10 minutes he felt the familiar sense of weightlessness as he left the atmosphere and came into the earths orbit. Seconds after his entry into space, Kira detached the Booster rockets and switched to the Vernier Ion thrusters. As soon as this was done the Gundam picked up a distress signal from Heliopolis on the International Distress frequency. When he looked into it, he found out that the Archangel, Eternal and Ptolemy were engaged in combat against some 20 mobile suits.'Dammit! Im too late...' said Kira as he flew towards Heliopolis at full speed. "Im coming Lacus... Just a bit longer..." said Kira as he used his right hand to push a white button on the control panel. Instantly the Gundam tripled its speed as the Eternal Freedom's Original Thruster System came to life. The Valkyrie System activated causing the GN particles to get dispersed over the wings, combining the Wings of light and Voiture Lumire propulsion system.

As he blasted toward the colony at a speed equal to that of atmospheric exit, his body started to give in. Kira felt his hands go numb and his eyesight started getting blurry with pain as he fought to maintain his consciousness.

* * *

><p><strong>C.E 76 Heliopolis (Present Time)<strong>

Athrun knew that he was outmatched in terms of power, speed and maybe even skill. The Lancelot was overwhelming, and just being in close proximity to the suit seemed to impose some sort of a pressure on his mind, suppressing his judgement and delaying his reflexes. He had one arm left, and it was probably useless in this situation. Before he could think of a clever strategy to get him out of this situation, Keith announced on the open channel, "Its time to end this Athrun. You have lost and you know it. Its time to finish what I came here for, its time to destroy the Ptolemy and her precious cargo once and for all. And since Im such a nice person, I'll let you pass on in the exact same way as the Freedom did. Let me show you my true power, the Mega Particle Cannon!" As soon as the words reached Athrun, he realized what was happening. This had been their plan all along. Keith had known that they would refuse to hand Lacus over, he had known that she was on the Ptolemy, they had known that we would lose this battle. He played it all out just to show everyone the difference in power, in-order to demotivate our forces from going up against them. While these thoughts passed through his mind, Athrun realized that he was wasting crucial time while the Lancelot's lance split open and contracted into a short cylinder. Slowly the cylinder started glowing as it charged up with plasma particles as it got ready to fire straight at the Ptolemy!

Athrun sprang into action as he pushed his thrusters to maximum, but no sooner did he push the booster pedal to the floor, the Justice shook with a large blast as the cockpit blared with alarms signifying booster failure. Not wasting anymore time he screamed orders for the Ptolemy to evade while he launched his last resort, the Justice's Flyer, straight at the Lancelot.

In slow motion, Athrun saw the Flyer approach the Particle Cannon, but just a second before impact, the Lancelot fired. The power from firing the weapon was strong enough to instantly destroy the Flyer, as its nose got incinerated in the particle cannon while the body simply exploded. Next Athrun saw the shot approach the Ptolemy, then a huge explosion of pure energy shook the battlefield as the bright light consumed the Blue Grey ship.

* * *

><p>As soon as the battle field came into view, Kira saw 3 things first. One, the Justice was fighting another Gundam unmistakably from Sentinel. The Justice was greatly outmatched, proven by the 3 missing limbs on the suit and the level of damage to the frame and head. Next he saw the akatsuki was engaging what looked like an overgrown Zaku using a lot of Dragoons...<p>

Thats when Kira saw the enemy Gundam prepare to fire an all too recognizable weapon, The Mega Particle Cannon. When he saw this, Kira felt a strange sensation. He somehow knew that the cannon was too strong for even the Ptolemy's Phase Shift armor and he knew that Cagalli was onboard, along with Lacus. Instantly, a surge of anger came over him. He was burning with anger, Sentinel had killed his parents, the had started both wars, they were responsible for the deaths of Flay, Kuzzey, Mr. Clyne, and so many other innocent people. When he saw the lives of Cagalli and Lacus in danger a purple seed exploded in the back of his mind propelling him into SEED mode. Immediately the Eternal Freedom's sensors picked up the change in Kira brainwaves, and activated its Psyco Frame, causing the mobile suit to open slightly at the weld lines and other areas when the Psyco Frame lining appears, in a deep glowing golden color.

_Initiating Emotion Drive startup... _

_Psyco Frame active... Psycommu Systems ready for combat..._

_ED activated at 25% capability..System Topological defect synchronization Unstable.. _

_Systems T-Q failed... ED running at Partial Activation...Power Limiters online..._

The next few seconds went by in a blur. The ED activation seemed to send electrical impulses coursing through his body as he stared sensing the whole mobile suit and its movements. His body seemed to move faster as it reacted to what he wanted the mobile suit to do. Immediately he boosted the Valkyrie System to it maximum speed of a 4X acceleration. His body seemed like it was under a few thousand pounds of weight as the suit blasted past the Ptolemy in an instant and met the Particle cannon head on in a colossal impact. Seconds before impact, Kira had switched to the GN shields on the Freedom and used them to form an impact shield. The GN shields used the unique Psyco-Frame and Gundarium alloy to disperse a concentrated cover of GN particles. This resulted in an anti beam-particle effect that used an oncoming attack against it, by forming a power recycling shield system.

The impact rattled the cockpit uncontrollably, the vibrations no doubt reopening more than just one or two of his wounds, but in his current state, he barely registered the pain, all Kira could think about was extracting revenge on the enemies around him.

Lacus saw the attack approach the ship, then as she prepared for the imminent impact she thought, "Kira, I wanted to see you soo much... Where are you?" Then the ship shook as if it was tearing apart but even after the sound died down Lacus could still feel her hands clutching herself. Slowly as she opened her eyes she could see that something had stopped the attack. Then as the light died down she could make out the distinctive outline of a winged mobile suit unlike any other. This suit was Blue, White and it had glowing gold lines across it. Behind the shoulders it had 2 silver studs jutting out, emitting shiny white particles. Finally it had 2 large shields on each shoulder unlike any she had ever seen before.

As everyone on the bridge stared in confusion at the newcomer. "Captain, what do we do now?" asked Akira, the Ptolemy's pilot. Immediately, as if in response to that question a familiar voice spoke out on the open channel. "If you want to kill Lacus or any of my friends, then you have to go through me first..."

* * *

><p>Keith Anian sat in his cockpit absolutely stunned. This new mobile suit had just appeared out of nowhere and it had stopped his Mega Particle cannon like it was nothing. Next the voice of the pilot was incredibly similar to the one he had heard in countless mission briefings. The voice of Kira Yamato, the man who was supposed to be dead. This was bad, the Lancelot was incapable of fighting another Gundam after firing the particle cannon because the dual-core reactor took some time to cool down, and until then the suit could barely defend itself and fighting a gundam on top of that was on par with impossible.<p>

Realizing the danger of the situation Keith quickly ordered all of his troops to fall back while the 2 Kshatriyas engaged the new mobile suit. If it could overpower both of them then Keith figured that he would be forced to retreat as there was no way the Lancelot could engage the new Gundam anytime soon. Until then Keith retreated to the edge of the battlefield to observe the new enemy.

* * *

><p>"Kira! Is that you? Kira?" Voices of Lacus, Athrun and many others rang out in the comm. system but he ignored them all for now. He concentrated on eliminating the 2 Zaku Hybrids rushing towards him. Immediately, he used the valkyrie to doge the shots fired by the 1st Zaku. Then drawing his beam saber, Kira rushed in at an unbelievable speed and made a long clean cut through the Zakus front two shields, slicing them in half. While he did this the 2nd one snuck behind him, but before it got to firing his beam rifle at the freedom, Kira swung his hip mounted cannons back and fired two powerful blasts into the Zakus chest at point blank range. The resulting shot left the 2nd Zaku heavily damaged.<p>

Then realizing the difference in power, the Zakus retreated to a shot distance and released all of their Dragoons. As Kira effortlessly evaded the numerous shots, then he realized that the shots seemed to be aimed very precisely and at only lethal locations. Thats when it dawned on him, that these bits were actually funnels, being manipulated by a Psycommu System. Before he could think of a way to use this to his advantage, a sudden pang of pain shot through his body as his legs suddenly started to go numb from pain. Kira reasoned that his body was finally giving into the strain, just like Eliza had warned him. Figuring that he needed to end this fight before he collapsed.

Quickly Kira switched to his GN Long-sword for greater reach. As soon as it dropped from the bottom of the GN shield onto the arm, Kira rocketed towards the 2nd Zaku, then before it even had the chance he drove the sword straight through the cockpit in one clean thrust. Then he dispersed his own 10 Infinite Dragoons. Effortlessly directing them t fire at the final Zaku, Kira took out its arms and legs, then before it could do anything else, he moved in front of it and fired his own Mega Particle Cannon from his chest. The blast completely incinerated the cockpit and what was left of it.

The battle had ended so quickly that the battlefield was completely still after the display of sheer power by the new Gundam. The stalemate was broken by the yellow retreat flare sent out by the Sentinel Forces. Kira was about to give chase to find and capture the pilot of the enemy gundam but as soon as he tried to do that, he felt his left leg give way. Slowly as the SEED mode wore off he realized the pain his body was in. Painfully he pushed down on the foot pedals as he guided the Eternal Freedom back towards the Ptolemy.

* * *

><p>As he proceeded to dock into the Ptolemy's hangar he realized that the ship had all 2 of its positron cannons locked onto him. Smiling a bit at that, Kira announced "Kira Yamato, Eternal Freedom Requesting Permission to Dock" After a second, Meyrin's anxious voice came over the speakers as she said "Eternal Freedom, Please proceed to dock in Hangar Bay 2."<p>

Carefully Kira folded the freedoms wings and maneuvered it into the hangar, just beside the Justice that had been brought in by the Destiny just minutes ago. Once he was in, Kira shut down the Eternal Freedom as the Hangar closed and pressurized. As he unstrapped and climbed out of the cockpit he noticed that the Destiny and Impulse were activated and ready to fight in-case anything went wrong. Once he climbed out of the cockpit, the hatch closed behind him. As he drifted towards the hangar's floor, Kira noticed that his welcome party consisted only of Athrun, Ryo, Mu and a couple of other guards each with a rifle in hand. Once down, Kira finally removed his helmet.

"Kira? Kira Yamato! It's really you isn't it?" said Athrun as he recognized his best friend. He gave him a hug as he approached him. "Just cant kill you, can they Kid?" Joked Mu as he stepped forward and patted him on the back... "Guess not Mu..." Replied Kira in a light tone as he looked around the hangar. He finally found what he was looking for when the doors opened and a young woman ran straight into his arms. Lacus hugged him tightly as tears streamed down her face that showed signs of someone who hadn't slept in days. "Kira... Kira... it's really you... I thought you wouldn't come back again... I was so scared and lonely, I couldn't think straight ever since I found out what happened to you." said Lacus in a low whisper like voice as she buried her head into his chest. He gently stroked her hair and brushed it smoothly with one hand as the other hand wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer. "I would never leave you Lacus... Not now, not ever. I promised to always stay by your side remember, and I will not break that promise, not for the world..." said Kira in a gentle and loving tone, as he brushed off the tears from her face. Regaining her composure, Lacus let go and smiled at him as she stood close to him as she said "Welcome back Kira"... Unfortunately he never got the chance to respond to that as he found himself on the floor after a sudden, yet particularly brutal punch from him twin sister. "You IDIOT! How dare you go off without telling any of us... What in the world were you thinking? Do you have any idea how scared I was, thinking that you might have gotten yourself killed this time?" said Cagalli in an angry yet happy tone. Then just as quickly as she had punched him in the chest, she moved up and tightly hugged him and said "Well I'm glad you came back to us alive...Welcome back Kira" "I'm glad too Cagalli, thank you" said Kira as she moved back.

While all this was happening Athruns brows pulled together as she frowned. He felt that something just wasn't right, but he conformed it when he looked closely at Kira. He was acting strange at first, but when Athrun looked closer, he finally realized that he wasn't moving his left leg at all. Not when he got knocked down by Cagalli or when he was helped up by Lacus. Next he saw that Kira looked slightly bloated, weak and pale. Athrun wasnt the only one who noticed this, Lacus had been feeling strange too. It was when Kira suddenly fell on her completely unconscious, that she realized that he was seriously injured. "Kira? Kira! Whats wrong? Talk to me... Kira!" Cried Lacus, panic seeping into mind once again as she experienced the feelings of losing Kira all over again..."

When he saw Kira fall, Athrun moved instantly. He quickly got to his friends side and checked his vitals. The first thing that he noticed was that he could barely feel any pulse. On impulse Athrun unzipped Kira's space suit. The only thing he saw was a red T-shirt with a pink bottom. The whole shirt was soaked in his blood. As soon as she saw this Lacus's hands flew to her face as she stifled tears, looking at Kira's injuries and thinking about his condition. Immediately Athrun shouted "Someone get a stretcher and help me get him to the Infirmary Inform the doctor there ASAP!

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note : I know this had been very very late I'm sorry!... Please don't give up on this story yet!<strong>

**Sorry about the cliffhanger, but I had to cut due to a new plot twist... Next update very soon this time and from now onwards... so dont worry about continuity and updates...  
><strong>

**I would like to hear your thoughts about how the long awaited meeting should be...(Its not over yet) and I wanted to showcase the new Freedoms abilities more but, I decided to hold back for the first time he fights another Gundam... **

**Below are the Stats for the Eternal freedom...  
><strong>

**1) Weapons marked with a (*) are special. They will be explained at later on. For all GN references look at Gundam 00 Quan [T] Full Saber version.**

**2) Keep in mind that these are the Eternal Freedom's true capabilities, as of now it has almost nothing installed and Kira still remains in the dark regarding some of these other features.**

**ZGMF-X45AS Eternal Freedom (Kira Yamato)**

**Unit Type: **Hybrid Assault Mobile Weapon**  
>Model Number:<strong> ZGMF-X45AS**  
>Code Name:<strong> Eternal Freedom**  
>Developed From:<strong> The Eternity Project**  
>Launched:<strong> 76 C.E**  
>Manufacturer:<strong> Unknown

**General Characteristics  
>- Overall Height:<strong> 20.65 Meters

**- ED (Stable Activation) Height : **22.40 Meters**  
>- Empty Weight:<strong> 86.43 metric tons**  
>- Colour: <strong>Blue, White and Gold

**Power Plant:** 1 x Ultra-compact Quad-Core Hyper-Deuterion Nuclear Reactor

2 x Geo-Nuclear Drive's (GN Drives)

1 x Hybrid Synergy Drive (Combines power from both systems)**  
>Accommodation:<strong> Pilot only, cockpit in Upper Torso**  
>Armour:<strong> Gundanium Enhanced Multi-Variable Phase-Shift Armor**  
>Thrust : <strong>GN Particle enhanced "Vernier Ion" Thrust. (Capable of Atmospheric exit at maximum power)

**Armaments :**  
>2 x AX-327A Short Beam Sabers<br>2 x AX-243A Beam Boomerang (Stored behind the Hips)  
>2 x SX-550A 30mm APSV-CIWS (mounted on the Head)<br>4 x SX-660A 55mm APSV-CIWS (mounted in Chest Vents)  
>2 x RX-35AS Multi-phase Beam Cannons (mounted behind shoulders; Flip up when firing)<br>2 x ZX-10AS "Ultimate-Xphias" Railguns (Mounted on Hips)  
>2 x ZX-20AS Beam Shield Generator (installed on arms)<br>2 x SG-856D Super Lacerta Beam Saber's (mounted on hips)  
>2 x SG-666D Armor Schnieder's (stored in legs)<p>

2 x ZX-456S Destiny Palm Cannons

2 x GN Sword Shields (Attached to the shoulders above the arms)*

2 x Anti-Ship GN Long Sword's (Stored beneath the GN shields)*

2 x GN Blades (Mounted on each forearm)*

2 x "Verde" High Energy Impulse Beam Rifles

- 1 x Hyper Impulse Cannon (When combined)

10 x ACSL-9X Infinite DRAGOON mobile Weapon Wings*

- 2 x "Lohengrin" Positron Cannon (When firing with 5 x DRAGOON's still attached to wings) OR

- 2 x "Tannhauser" Positron Cannon (When firing with 5 x DRAGOON's still attached to wings)

1 x Multi-Phase Mega Particle Cannon (In chest)

**Special Equipment and Features**  
>Hybrid Synergy Drive<p>

Emotion Drive

Legacy System

Full Body Psyco Frame

Hardpoint for docking with METEOR  
>Extreme High-Mobility Aerial Tactics (E-HiMAT) System<br>Multi-Lock Weapons System ("Full Burst Mode")  
>Multi-Level Rapid Acceleration "Valkyrie" System (Combines Wings of Light and the Voiture Lumiere Systems)<br>Neutron Jammer Canceller  
>Quanntum Computing  Psycommu DRAGOON system

**Optional Equipment**  
>METEOR unit<p>

Missile Launcher Pack


	6. Phase 6 : Confession and Revelation

**Authors Note : Hope this long chapter makes up for the delay... This chapter is the longest yet... 9000+ words... This one concentrates on the K x L aspect of the story, so let me know how it looks... Read and REVIEW people... I need to know if I'm doing good...**

**This chapter is solely concentrating on character interactions... A break from constant battles...**

**Next Update : Febuary 5th 2012 (Last long delay)... Weekly updates after the 5th onwards...**

**Just a reminder, this a Adventure/ Suspense/ Romance... Expect a decent amount of AxC, MxM, SxL, DxM... Dont forget to R&R!**

* * *

><p><strong><strong> PHASE 6 : CONFESSION AND REVELATION<strong>**

* * *

><p><strong>C.E 76 Ptolemy, Heliopolis<strong>

While waiting for the doctor to arrive, Athrun proceeded to administer first-aid to Kira. After placing the oxygen mask on Kira's face, he carefully unwrapped the bandages on Kira's chest with Mu's help. As the wounds came into view Mu exclaimed "What in the world..." He was about to say something else but stopped when he caught a glimpse of Lacus's worried face, so he decided to let it slip and not worry her anymore than she already was.

Suddenly Athrun turned to Lunamaria who had been standing by the door the whole time, and said "Luna, get in touch with the bridge and find out why it's taking them so long to get a hold of a doctor." Sensing that something was wrong Mu asked Athrun "What's wrong kid?"

In a grim voice, Athrun replied "The only time Kira could have gotten such serious wounds is from that battle on earth, when he lost the Strike Freedom. But what worries me is this..." As he said that, Athrun pointed to one of the cuts on Kira's chest and continued "His cuts are not clotting up... It should have been atleast 30 minutes since the battle ended. Assuming they reopened in this battle, it should still have given him more than enough time to stop bleeding... and then there is the fact that Kira never seemed to have realized that he was bleeding so badly..." As Athrun finished everyone in the room fell silent, pondering over the questions that had just been voiced...

Before anyone could say anything else, Luna stepped inside and said "The doctor will be here in about a minute." Due to the battle just now, the colony went into lockdown, this made it hard to get a hold of a medic. For now, the guy on duty at the spaceport is heading over as he is capable of treating coordinators."

Lacus's eyes started to water up as she thought about all the things that had happened. She remembered how happy she had been when she had heard Kira's voice in the middle of the battle. She remembered the relief, that had washed over her when she saw his face as he took off his helmet in the Hangar. The joy and sense of safety as she felt his arm wrap around her waist. But in a moment all that had been shattered. As she saw him fall into her arms unconscious, a feeling of fear overtook her. As she saw Athrun open his suit and reveal Kira's bloody bandages, and now when she saw his scarred skin beneath his bandages, Lacus started to feel a strong pain somewhere inside of her. A part of her blamed the current situation on her own actions. She felt like, she was the cause of all this and that Kira would be better off without her nearby. Another part of her wanted to hold Kira close to her and protect him from fighting, and shield him from any more pain and suffering in the world.

As Cagalli continued to watch her brother, she noticed Lacus stand beside the bed. She seemed sick with worry and on the verge of tears. It was then that Cagalli also realized that this whole time, Lacus had been holding Kira's hand, from when he had fallen unconscious in hangar to up until now. It was almost as if she was afraid that if she let go of his hand, then he would slip away from her. The thought, about Lacus worrying for Kira somehow managed to make Cagalli smile slightly even in the current situation.

Finally the infirmary door opened and a doctor and a young nurse hurried inside. Immediately they spotted Kira lying on the bed, and proceeded to examine him without wasting even a single moment. Behind him Ryo walked in and announced, "Im sorry about the delay, but this is Dr. Kennith Wilks, he is the best medic available." Cagalli nodded in acknowledgement as she turned to look at the doctor as he continued to examine Kira while Athrun briefed him on the details.

Once he was finished, the doctor looked up and gave a weak smile as he said, "I dont think there is anything to worry about right now. His wounds are not too serious, but he has lost a lot of blood which is probably why he fell unconscious. We will need to transfuse more blood into him immediately or he run's the risk of going into a coma or worse... As you must already know, Heliopolis is currently in a lockdown due to the recent battle, so by the time we get a hospital to send blood, it might be too late. It would be better if we could get someone on-board with his blood type to donate..."

Before he even finished, Lacus, Cagalli and Athrun said "I can" simultaneously. Then cutting in between, Mu said "Athrun, its better if you let Cagalli and the princess take care of this. If there is any trouble, we may have to fight again and you will have to be ready for that." "I understand... your right Commander" agreed Athrun.

Once the matter was decided, Kennith continued "Right if thats settled, I'm going to ask the rest of you to wait outside till I clean and close his wounds. I dont want to risk him contracting an infection right now. Miss Lacus, Lady Cagalli, please take a seat while we prepare him for the transfusion."

Once everyone had left, the doctor quickly cleaned and treated Kira's wounds and sealed them using an adhesive bandage. While he was doing that, the nurse had Cagalli and Lacus sit in chairs on either side of the bed as she inserted a needle into their forearms. Once the preparations were completed, they hooked up Kira to the appropriate machine that completed the blood transfer. "It should be done in about one and a half hour. I have put master Kira on a antibiotic drip just in-case, everything else seems to fine. We will take our leave now, Lady Cagalli, Miss Lacus" said Kennith as he bowed and left the room.

* * *

><p>Once outside, Kennith turned to Mu and Athrun who were waiting right by the door. "I did not say this in front of Miss Lacus like you asked me to, but, the truth is that Master Kira's condition is quite serious. Like you guessed, his blood does not appear to be clotting properly for some strange reason, but the transfusions should take care of that for now. Next, I found that all of his muscles seemed to be highly strained and at breaking point. This is especially true for his left leg. I bandaged it and injected a muscle relaxant, but he should rest it for a week at the bare minimum. Although he would have to be going at an impossible speed to cause this kind of damage to his body, I'd guess that the most likely cause of his muscle strain is the cumulative stress build up on his body due to piloting a mobile suit. Like I said before, he should wake up in a day and recover completely, but until then I doubt he could live through another battle."<p>

Nodding in acknowledgement, Athrun thanked the doctor and the nurse for their help as they left. "Well,... Here comes the cavalry" said Mu as he spotted Miriallia, Captain Ramius, Sai and Kuzzey step out of the elevator, escorted by Ryo Ardae. As they walked over, captain Ramius them asked "How is he?"

"Fine for now, but apparently piloting that new machine of his, nearly killed him. We couldn't get any blood from Heliopolis as its still in a lockdown, so Cagalli and the Pink princess are donating their blood as we speak" answered Mu.

"And I suppose we are still in the dark about where he was these past 10 days and about how he got hold of that new gundam?" continued captain Ramius.

"I'm afraid so. The kid barely got past the hugging before he dropped unconscious" Replied Mu as he filled the newcomers in on the details.

Once he was done, Ryo said "Athrun sama, its about the new mobile suit the commander brought in. Vino and Yolan reported that they cant open the cockpit. Apparently they were going to see if it needed any maintenance, but they found the cockpit locked up and later suit's Phase Shift Armor activated, making it nearly impossible to do anything to it."

"A security system? Thats a first... Ask them to leave it alone until Kira wakes up. What's the damage report like?" asked Athrun.

"The Ptolemy suffered minor damage throughout the ship due to that last shock-wave from the Mega Particle Cannon. 7 out of our 12 mobile suits remain. The rest were annihilated by those Zaku type mobile suits. I've also heard that the colony suffered some collateral damage but the suspicious thing is that the Strike Daggers seemed to have been aiming for only the colony's evacuation pods." Then as Ryo finished, Miriallia filled in the rest, "As for us, the Archangel's outer armor is heavily damaged thanks to those two Zaku type suits. The Eternal is still in good shape along with the Akatsuki, Murasame's and the three DOM Troopers..."

The way Mirialli looked at him as she finished was enough for Athrun to guess what was on her mind. "Finally, we also have to deal with my Justice. It can still be fixed, but I dont know if it will do us any good though." Said Athrun wryly as he thought about how helpless he had been when he was up against the Lancelot.

After a moments thought, Mu added "Kira was able to handle those Zaku's quite easily even though he was severely injured. Judging by the speed and power of the weapons on that new machine of his, I'd say that it could hold its own against even that Lancelot. If we can use that units technology to upgrade the Justice, then we could match the enemy in terms of power and speed."

Nodding in acknowledgement, Athrun mused, "Yes, that thought occurred to me too, but before that we need Kira to wake up. Meanwhile the situation keeps getting worse and worse, and we cant do anything about it as we still have too many unanswered questions. We still dont know what _SENTINEL_ hopes to gain through a new war, or how they got hold of those Gundams, who is behind them or about why they seem to be targeting Kira and Lacus..."

Cutting Athrun off, Mu put an end to the discussion by saying, "Calm down Athrun, hopefully Kira has some answers for us, and either way, we will find out soon enough."

* * *

><p><strong>C.E 76 Unknown Ship, Unknown Location in Space<strong>

Keith Anian sat in a mission briefing room beside Rein Eim. Both of them sat silently facing a communication screen on the wall. In the screen sat another man wearing a distinctive purple and white uniform of the _PLANTS_ Chairman. Leon Aifman sat quietly as he read a report, then once he was finished, he looked up and said "So, what your saying is that, Kira Yamato is still alive, he has acquired a new mobile suit that is equal to or superior to the Lancelot and possibly all of our Gundams.

"Yes, sir" affirmed Keith.

"Next, your report says he appeared in the middle of the battle and actually 'blocked' your mega particle cannon?

And the final result was that you lost two Kshatriya's to this new gundam before retreating?" questioned Leon once again.

"Yes." Said Keith

"You handled the situation well. The outcome was unexpected, but it was a good one at that." said Leon surprising both pilots. "Good? How is that supposed to be good?" asked Keith, slightly worked up.

Leon answered him quite calmly, "Kira Yamato was never meant to die that day. The battle with the Penelope was only meant to destroy the Strike Freedom and keep him on earth long enough for us to take over the _PLANTS_. Commander Banagher specifically asked me to try and keep Kira uninjured in the battle. But unfortunately, our over excited fool of a rookie, lost control of himself and used the Mega Particle Cannon against my strict orders."

Rein winced noticeably at the last part. Leon continued "Banagher was very angry when he found out about it. And the fact that Lacus Clyne got away from us during the battle at Aprillus didn't help. But Im sure he will welcome this news, even if it meant failing your mission. Rest easy Keith."

"Now, I want you proceed according to plan. Both of you are to remain on-board the _Alexandria _and rendezvous with the _Albion _in a few hours_. _Once you meet up with Erin and Cecile, proceed to destroy the factory. I dont expect any trouble dealing with whatever forces _TERMINAL _has protecting the factory. After the attack, I want all of you to standby in the earth's orbit. Be prepared for atmospheric re-entry. Thats it. Good luck for your mission." As he finished Leon terminated the link and his image vanished from the screen leaving the two pilots alone in complete silence.

As they got up and walked along the ships corridor towards the hangar, Rein asked in an emotionless tone "was he strong?" "...Kind of..." replied Keith. "I did not engage him directly but he took out both Kshatriya's with ease. Then there is the part where he managed to completely block my particle canon. The fact that he was able to do that without taking any visible damage should tell you that he is a formidable enemy."

"What about the Justice and Athrun Zala?" asked Rein

"He is very skilled as a pilot. He managed to damage the Lancelot even though the Justice was crippled. I wasn't able to fight with all of my power as even I was given strict orders to leave Athrun Zala and Lacus Clyne alive" Replied Keith.

"And you did so by firing the particle cannon at the ship Cyne was in?"

This caused Keith to suddenly look away and hide his expression as he explained, "The information I was given said that Lacus Clyne would be on-board the Eternal or the Archangel as they have served as her flagships in the past. I decided to destroy a ship to demonstrate the power difference and achieve our goal, while leaving the other two ships intact because I was unable to confirm which ship she was in. Then, there was also the Akatsuki protecting the Archangel which only reinforced my previous conclusions. It wasn't until Yamato showed up and stopped by particle cannon that I realized my mistake.

As they walked into the Hangar, Rein said, "Well, this is going to get interesting. I cant wait to see that new Gundam of his in battle. I might even get to use the Penelope's full power on him."

"No matter how strong he may be, Kira Yamato will never be able to defeat _SENTINEL_ as long as we have this Gundam on our side..." As he said this, Keith looked to his left and up at a certain mobile suit in the hangar. The machine was pure white in color with black and grey joints. Instead of a gundams face, this suit had a face that looked like it had a helmet on. Then the most distinctive feature, was a single long horn on top of the head. Then at the back was a single silver stud sticking out. A GN Drive.

"The RX-0 Unicorn huh... Kira probably wouldn't last 2 minutes against it..." said Rein as he walked to the other end of the Hangar, towards the Penelope.

* * *

><p><strong>C.E 76 Ptolemy, Heliopolis<strong>

It felt like a bunch of lead weights had been dumped on his chest making his whole body feel heavy and numb. Kira also felt cold and tired but he could feel a distinctive warmth around his right hand. With a monumental effort, he slowly managed to open his eyes. The lights in the room blinded him, resulting in a sharp pang of pain in the back of his eye. Again, Kira opened his eyes bit by bit as they got accustomed to the brightness of the room. It took him a few seconds to reorient himself, then he recognized that he was in the Ptolemy's infirmary.

As he looked around he saw a his left arm attached to a blood drip and the second tube that he guessed to be an antibiotic and pain reliever. Judging by his lack of memories after getting punched by Cagalli, he guessed that he must have fallen unconscious due to his wounds. He tried moving his hands and legs, although numb, they seemed fine, even his left leg was better now. Looking down he realized that someone had changed his bandages and shirt, but he was still wearing the same pilot pants.

Then Kira turned his head to his right side to find the source of the warmth in his hand. He found Lacus asleep, sitting by his bed on a chair, with her head resting on the edge of the bed. She had both of her hands clasped around his, as if trying to make sure he didn't leave. The thought brought a smile to his face. He remembered how much he had longed for this when he was stuck in Scandinavia, how much he had yearned for the warmth of these hands. Just being around Lacus made him feel better, he felt content and happy by her side, he always had. Ironically, he never realized the reason for it until a few days ago when he had been forced to leave her side. Now that he was finally back, Kira decided that he would never leave her side again. Slowly withdrawing his hand from hers, Kira stroked her hair gently as he said, "Lacus, This time I will keep my word, I promise to always be by your side from now on, no matter what."

Stirring slightly, Lacus woke up. As she felt his hand, out of the corner of her eye she saw that Kira was awake, she quickly sat up and immediately her eyes started to tear up.

"Kira... You suddenly collapsed and you were bleeding so badly. I was so worried about you, and Athrun said that your wounds weren't healing properly..." She was going to say more but Kira cupped her left cheek with his free arm and wiped off her tears with his thumb, "I'm back, Lacus"

This caused her to stop crying and smile. Kira gently caressed her face, moving aside stray hair as he said, "I'm sorry Lacus. I should have told you, but I didn't want to worry you anymore, so I left without saying anything." Shaking her head, she placed her own hand on Kira's as she said, "You came back Kira, and thats all that matters."

Before they got any further, the door slid open and Cagalli entered, followed by Athrun, Mu and Captain Ramius. Kira withdrew his hand as soon as he heard them enter. "Glad to see your finally awake" said Cagalli as she walked in and took a seat beside Lacus. "How are you feeling Kira?" asked captain Ramius

"Much better Miss Murrue, Im sorry to have worried you..." answered Kira as he sat up on the bed with Lacus help. "It's really lucky you showed up when you did Kira. Without that new machine of yours, we wouldn't have stood a chance against those guys" said Mu as he walked in.

"I think the explanations can wait until Kira recovers, so lets leave him to rest shall we Mu?" said miss Murrue before Mu could continue, but to her surprise Kira replied "Im afraid it cant Miss Murrue. Now is as good a time as any for us to talk, we cant waste anymore time. Would please ask them to meet in my office? I really dont want to stay here any longer."

"I understand" said Miss Murrue as she went to the communications panel to relay the message.

As Kira stood up, Lacus slipped his right arm over her shoulders and he let her support some of his weight. Athrun also moved and removed the drops from Kira's arm and supported him on the opposite side as they walked to his office. By the time they got there, Shinn, Luna, Ryo, and Kisaka had gathered in his office / quarters. Shinn and Luna sat on the couch while everyone else remained standing. When they entered, Cagalli and Miss Murrue took a seat on the bed at the other end of the room while Athrun and Lacus helped Kira into his seat behind the desk.

* * *

><p>Getting straight to the point Ryo started "Well Commander, let me bring you up to speed with what's happened" ... As he finished, Kira decided to thank Yzak and Dearka when he had the chance for all their help in protecting Lacus.<p>

Finally Kira began his side of the story. "Once I found out about the assassination, I received a certain letter asking me to meet someone near Orb. The letter contained information about me being the pilot of the Freedom, my relation to Cagalli" and looking straight at Lacus, Athrun and Mu he continued "It also talked about a certain project in the Mendel Colony" This clearly shocked them... "Based on that I concluded that, who ever it was, I should meet them, friend or foe. They specifically asked me to come down in the Strike Freedom, so I assumed that it wasn't the enemy as they wouldn't want me using the Freedom if they wanted to kill me. Then like you know, I was ambushed by an enemy Gundam called the RX-104FF Penelope and its pilot Rein Eim. We started fighting as we entered the earths orbit and this caused me to end up near Scandinavia instead of Orb."

As he began to tell them about the Robbins family and their relation to him, he stopped. Kira had not told Kisaka, Ryo and the rest about his real identity. As he hesitated, Lacus, who was standing beside him, reached out and took hold of his hand and smiled reassuringly at him. Taking a deep breath he explained "The Eliza Robbins is my real mothers cousin. She was also part of the Ultimate Coordinator Project in the Mendel Colony.

The project was started by Ulen Hibiki, my father, in order to create the prefect coordinator. To do this he developed an artificial womb, but even after hundreds of trials he failed, until, his wife Via Hibiki got pregnant with twins. Ulen Hibiki, then used the male embryo and transferred it from his wife and into the artificial womb. As fate would have it, that embryo was the only one to develop completely." He could see the shock and disbelief in his crews eyes while Kisaka just looked at Kira with sympathy as he guess his pain. Cagalli who already knew this, had a crestfallen look about her as she looked at him.

Drawing strength from the comfort of Lacus's presence nearby, Kira finished his story up until how he ended up on the battlefield. He decided to leave out the parts about the ring and necklace, and the specs about the new Freedom as they weren't relevant. But, he had intentionally eliminated the part about how Banagher Links, the leader of _SENTINEL _had been responsible for killing the Hibiki and La Flaga families. This was because he wanted to discuss that alone with Lacus, Cagalli, Athrun and Mu, some other time.

Everyone seemed to be in disbelief about something or the other as he finished. Cagalli pondered over the existence of Sakura Hibiki, her elder sister while Athrun and Shinn recognized the description about SEED mode and about if they had the same ability as well.

Before they could sink deeper into their own thoughts, Kira continued once again. "Right now, from what we know, the new war is only a part of _SENTINELS _plan, they want to use the war to eliminate the idea of nations like the EA, Plants and Orb. Then once they dissolve the individual governments, they can establish an overruling authority over the world. Its similar to the ideals of world unification but it would have been forced upon the people with fear and brute power. Furthermore, they also seem to have another goal along the lines of Chairman Durandal, where they want to weed out and refine the populations based on their ability and usefulness. Thats what they mean by helping humans evolve."

Remembering something, Shinn said, "Thats sounds like what Leon Aifman said in his speech..." Kira nodded once and said, "Yes, It's highly possible that Aifman works for _SENTINEL_."

Speaking for the first time, Lacus said, "Leon has been on the Supreme Council since my father was the Chairman. If he is an agent, then it means that they have agents in other governments as well. So the next part phase of their plan would be to take over other nations or at-least instigate them into waging war. Preventing _SENTINEL_ from forcing other nations into war should be our goal. As long as neutral nations exist, then people will have something to work towards. We must protect the neutral nations like Orb, Scandinavia and USSA. Eventually, once we gain enough information, we can move against the organization itself."

As Lacus finished outlining her plans, something about her struck Athrun as strange. It wasn't her plan of action but something about her seemed strange to Athrun. He knew that Lacus never let her emotions rule her, nor was she the kind of person who would reveal any of her pain or problems. As he continued to think about it, he saw Kira glance at him.. One look at him was enough for him to know that he too had realized this and wanted to talk to her about it. "Well, if she is going to open up to anyone, its Kira..." thought Athrun. Since the discussion was at an end, he decided to let the pair have some time alone. "Well, now that thats settled, how about we let Kira rest and get something to eat?" said Athrun "We can work the rest out tomorrow. I think everyone is entitled to some rest after today, and since things wont be getting easier anytime soon, we should rest while we can."

Kira gave Athrun a grateful look as people slowly filed out of the room. Ryo remained in the room until only Kira, Lacus, Athrun and Cagalli were remaining. He then nervously proceeded to say, "Commander, umm... As you know, the Ptolemy is smaller than the other ships of its class. And so, currently, we are full and have no free rooms available anymore." When Kira didn't say anything, he explained further, " When we left from the _PLANTS _I requested Miss Lacus to use you quarters as they were the only ones free, but now we have no other room available. Even if Miss Lacus and Lady Cagalli were to stay here, we still wouldn't have any place for you and Athrun sama."

As Ryo finished, Athrun had already caught onto the problem, and he secretly smiled as he found the turn of events highly amusing. "Well, it's not a problem for us, because me and Cagalli will be on-board the Archangel for the time being. Since we cant really leave Kira in the infirmary, he can stay with Lacus... If she doesn't mind, that is... Otherwise, he will have to go over onto the Archangel or Eternal..."

As Athrun finished, both Kira and Lacus looked at him, surprised and maybe even shocked. Trying to soothe things, Cagalli continued, "Me and Athrun had to use the same room on-borad the Minerva. You know, at the start of the second war..."

Kira was about to volunteer to go to the Archangel when Lacus suddenly spoke in a barely audible voice, "Well... I dont mind Kira staying here, if he doesn't mind. He does need someone to take care of him for now anyway."

"Now that this is settled, we should go Athrun, I've still got to deal with some matters regarding Heliopolis." Said Cagalli as she dragged Athrun and Ryo out of the room before anyone else could say anything. Once outside, Cagalli turned to find Athrun with a highly amused smile on his face

"Ryo, make sure you get someone to send both of them a meal later on." Said Athrun as he walked away, his hand holding Cagalli's.

As they walked off the ship and onto the connecting space bridge, Athrun was still smiling. "What?" demanded Cagalli, unable to take it anymore. Finally, Athrun let her in on the secret, "Its true that the Ptolemy was full, but that was until they lost 5 mobile suits in todays battle... Including the pilots..." It took Cagalli a minute to understand what he was getting at, then it struck her. "So, did you ask Ryo to..." She trailed of as she saw him shaking his head. "So who then?" inquired Cagalli

"I'd guess it was probably Mu" mused Athrun.

* * *

><p><strong>C.E 76 <strong>_**PLANT **_**Supreme Council, Aprillus 4**

"Mr. Chairman, you cant just attack another nation with no valid reason" argued the Council Member, with several others nodding their heads in support. Leon Aifman had just outlined his plan to build up ZAFT forces in order to prepare for their upcoming battles, but the old fools on the Council stubbornly refused to allow such actions without 'talking' to the other side first. He had heard countless arguments for striving for peace, all of them including 'Chairman Clyne's principles... Miss Lacus's methods...'

Finally losing his last ounce of patience, Leon snapped and said, "What part of, The Earth Alliance attacked us, do you all not understand? You couldn't possibly have forgotten that just a few days ago, agents from the EA infiltrated the _PLANTS, _assassinated several council members and top ZAFT commanders. They bombed the streets of Aprillus 4, killing hundreds of innocent people. Those filthy naturals even managed to infiltrate ZAFT and pose as our soldiers. Then there was that coup that they staged, making all of ZAFT look like nothing more than a bunch of incompetent fools. "

"Finally, it seems that you people still choose to ignore that, the EA went as far as to attack Aprillus with an assault fleet. If those acts are not a declaration of war, then what is? Are you just going to sit around and wait until they decide to nuke us like they did in the last two wars? And its not just us, they even attempted an attack on Heliopolis, which just happens to be a 'Neutral' nation."

"Mr. Chairman, intelligence reports suggest that the agents who infiltrated us were not part of the EA. As such, we have no definite evidence to..." The ZAFT commander never finished as Leon cut in. "Intelligence repots? Really? I didn't know we still had an intelligence division in ZAFT. Whatever happend to the intelligence reports when we were about to be attacked by terrorists? or when a coup d'etat was being planned in ZAFT? And you have the nerve to tell me that I should trust such 'reliable reports' and believe that the EA is innocent even after 8 Agamemnon class warships attacked us. Even after they went and killed or captured the previous chairwoman?"

Noticing the detail, the ZAFT commander inquired, "Captured? I thought you said she was kil..."

Leon's eyes narrowed as he noticed his mistake. Before the commander finished, he shouted, "Enough... Its this reluctance to face the truth and inability to act that caused us to get attacked in the first place. Now unless you all are waiting for use to get attacked by nuclear weapons again. Since you all refuse to fight the naturals, at-least start preparing for the inevitable. So that when the time comes, we wont lose any innocent lives because of your cowardice"

Leon silently smiled to himself as the room fell silent after his little speech. It astounded him as to how easy it had been to manipulate the council, now it was only a matter of time..."

* * *

><p><strong>C.E 76 Ptolemy, Heliopolis Spaceport<strong>

Inside the room, Kira slowly stood up. The task turned out to be quite painful as the painkillers had started to wear off. Once he had stood up, he turned to face she caught him looking at her, she smiled gently and said, "Kira?" Without answering her, he reached out and took hold of her left arm and gently led her to the other end of the room and had her take a seat on the edge of the bed. Unable to understand his actions, Lacus asked him, "What's wrong Kira? Are you okay?"

Kira sat down opposite to her and without letting go of her hand he said, "I'm fine Lacus, but I want to know what's wrong with you? I feel like you're hiding something from me Lacus, you've not been your usual self. Please Lacus, tell me what's bothering you?"

She looked at him with her clear Azure eyes and said, "Im fine Kira. Im just tired from everything that has happened, thats all." Kira didn't say anything as he continued to look at her directly in the eyes. Then in a calm steady tone he said, "Dont lie to me Lacus Clyne. I know to better than that. Now please Lacus, tell me what's bothering you?"

She didn't reply immediately but rather, she looked down and her shoulders shook as if she was on the verge of crying. Then in a low, barely audible voice she said, "I'm scared..."

"What are you afraid of Lacus?" he asked gently.

"We have lost so much, fighting in both wars. So much was lost, sacrificed and the pain of that still remains with us. Yet, once again the world is on the brink of another war. This time, I began thinking about wether our actions mean anything, and if what we are fighting for is even worth all the pain and suffering. What if... what if everything they said is true... What if our actions only serve to deepen the conflict and prolong the wars. What if this new war is the result of my actions?

I dont know if the people will trust me again or even listen to me anymore."

When she finished, he gently put his hand on her chin and lifted her face up. Her eyes were cloudy and she seemed to be on the verge of tears. He had never seen her like this. She looked weak and helpless. Her eyes showed loneliness, fear and panic.

Kira reasoned, that she had bottled up all her feelings from what all has happened and now all of a sudden she had let it all out.

Gently he wiped off the tears accumulating in her eyes and moving closer to her, he said, "Lacus, what we fight for is not wrong. Trying to save lives is not wrong. If it was, then we would never have managed to end both valentine wars. Believe in yourself Lacus. You have always done what you believe is right, and its because of that, that people follow you, trust you and believe in you. If this wasn't the case then why would a ship full of the top soldiers in ZAFT abandon their duties, defect from their nation to protect you? Why would _SENTINEL_ think of you as a threat unless they believe that people will follow you and trust you to restore peace and prevent another war"

"Lacus, no matter what, I believe in you. I always have and I always will."

She looked at him for a few seconds and mumbled "why?"

Confused, he asked her, "Why what Lacus?"

"I've only ever put you in situations where your forced to fight. I've only caused you more pain and suffering every-time we are together. Why do you still trust me? My actions forced you to fight when I gave you the Freedom. You picked up a gun again trying to protect me in the second war. I forced you to fight Athrun once again. You fought more, when I gave you the Strike Freedom. Even now, Im the reason for all of your injuries and pain. Why would you want to return to my side when all you receive is more pain and more fight?" Finishing this, she started crying. Silent tears poured down her face along her cheeks, while fear and apprehension clouded her azure eyes.

Kira just looked at her blankly. It hurt him to know that she was suffering over him. He cursed himself for not being by her side when she needed it the most as he thought about the mental agony she must have been going through for ever since he left her.

He didn't know what to say. He didn't know what would calm her, reassure her... Slowly he said, "In the 1st war, I fought to protect my friends on the Archangel, and for that I fought against coordinators. Then Athrun and I, tried to kill each other as revenge for our dead friends. When you gave me the Freedom, I fought to save lives and prevent anymore people from dying. But things changed Lacus. In the second war, I fought to protect you from those assassins that day. Then we fought to save Orb and so on. I always thought I was fighting to protect innocent people and save lives, but like the 1st war, I fought to protect my friends. But this time when I went down to earth and fought, and during the time I was away, I realized something important. I realized why I fight even though I hate it, I realized why I was able to endure all the pain and the answer was simple."

As he paused, Lacus looked at him, her eyes longing for an answer.

"Every-time, as I was ready to give up, you helped thru. You gave me the strength to move on. Since the time we first talked on the Archangels deck, to when you nursed be back to health. You've always been there for me, even after the battle in the Mendel colony, when I told you about who I was, you accepted me and gave me hope and strength to keep going. And every-time I fought, I did so that I could protect people dear to me. Then on earth, I finally realized, that hte person closest to me, the person whom I want to protect the most is you Lacus."

As he said that she relaxed considerably, then looking her straight in the eyes he said, "Its because I love you Lacus" As he said that, he pulled her into his arms and hugged her, wrapping his arms around her kimono, pulling her in.

It took Lacus a second to comprehend it, then she froze, her eyes widened in shock. She continued to look at Kira but her mind was a mess of emotions, thoughts and memories. For a long time now, Lacus had been aware of her feelings towards Kira. She had fallen in love with him since the time she nursed him back to health in the 1st war. Although she was sure of her feelings she had never been able to tell him. For years she had debated telling him but the circumstances never favored her. Then there was the fact that although she could read other people easily, she had never been able to ascertain Kira's true feelings towards her. Even when he move to the _PLANTS_, she had now been able to know wether it was love or something else.

This time, once again, she cried. But these were tears of happiness. In a moment all of her worries had been swept aside as a pleasant soothing feeling filled her up. Freeing herself from his embrace, she looked at his face. In his deep amethyst eyes she saw a kind of inner calm and childlike innocence that she had grown to love so much. Finally she said "I love you too Kira..."

His arms still around her waist, he gently pulled her closer towards him. Her face now inches away from his, Lacus slowly closed her eyes as his lips met hers. As they kissed, he could feel the tears, moist on her face. Hesitant at first, Lacus put her own arms around his neck and pulled him in closer as she kissed back. Kira tightened their embrace as he pulled her closer still, with one hand while he gently stroked / combed her hair with his spare hand. They stayed together, locked in that embrace for over 5 long minutes, when someone suddenly knocked on the door and opened. Startled, both of them broke their passionate kiss. The first thing Kira noticed was that Lacus's face was almost as pink as her hair as she blushed. He himself could feel his face burning up as the blood rushed up.

As the door slid open, Ryo Ardae entered the room carrying two trays of food. Seeing Kira's and Lacus's arms wrapped around each other, Ryo quickly said, "Pardon my interruption" then deposited the trays on the desk and left promptly.

Following Ryo's sudden interruption, Kira stood up and got the food trays. While sitting down, he noticed that the painkillers were wearing off, making it hard to move his hands and feet. Even though they had been quite intimate just minutes before, they finished their meal amidst an awkward silence. Once they were done, Kira once again prepared to drop of the empty trays in the ships cafeteria when he found Lacus tugging on his sleeve. As he turned back to look at her she said, "Dont go Kira..."

Kira smiled in return, then he proceeded to place the trays back on the desk. After, which he returned to the bed and sat down beside Lacus. He figured that her feelings were still mixed up, especially after his rather sudden confession. Wrapping his arms around her, Kira pulled her towards him as he gently hugged her. Slowly he stroked her hair, while he whispered into her ear, "Dont worry Lacus. Im not going anywhere, I promise to stay by your side, no matter what."

They stayed like that for a while, until Kira noticed that Lacus had finally drifted off to sleep. Gently he laid her back down on the bed and made sure to rest her head on a pillow and covered her with a blanket.

It was when he had finally lay down beside Lacus that it struck him. The intensity of the pain was unimaginable. It felt like every nerve in his body was burning white hot, searing through his skin. He couldn't think straight, but a variety of memories and emotions coursed through him. One moment he was struck by incomparable grief while the next moment he found himself furious and wanting to kill and destroy for no explicable reason. He wanted to scream but he couldn't even move a muscle.

It took Kira a minute to recover once the seizure had subsided. Immediately the memory of Alan warning Kira about the dangers of the Emotion Drive and the damage it can cause, came to mind. The pain continued to eat away at him until finally he started loosing consciousness. With his last ounce of strength, he reached out and held Lacus's hand, as he fell asleep.

* * *

><p><strong>C.E 76 Asteroid Belt, Earth's Orbit<strong>

As the _Alexandria _came into the asteroid belt, the distinctive outline of the _Albion _into view. Unlike the _Alexandria, _which was a Laurasia class ship, the _Albion _was one of _SENTINEL'S _creation. A Pegasus class ship combining the abilities of a cruiser and assault class warship. It was a long white ship, resembling the _Archangel_ with its two legged shape. Unlike the _Archangel, _the _Albion_ had a much more boxed look, it also had 4 wings spreading out in all directions, from the middle of the ship behind the main bridge tower. Next, the ship had two large booster engines making the ship as fast as any Nazca class ship. Finally the most distinctive feature of the ship were two large round discs on either side of the ship that served to hide the ship from radar without the need for mirage colloid armor.

By the time Keith and Rein launched, the other two _SENTINEL _pilots were already out. "Erin and Cecile will follow me. Rein will cover us from behind" announced Keith as they moved towards their target; TERMINAL'S secret mobile suit factory.

"Why do I have to stay out of the fighting?" asked Rein in an angry tone, "Its because, the Penelope is designed for atmospheric combat, and without air for your propulsion systems, you severely handicapped" Said Keith in a mocking tone.

As they approached the giant asteroid, there was still no sign of the enemy.

"Do we just attack or wait until they send whatever forced they have?" asked Cecile from the Epyon. She piloted the red Gundam that had two sharp demonic wings. It also had a barbed tail where each segment served as a funnel for its psycommu system. For close quarters, the Epyon also furnished a set of 3 blade claws on each arm.

"Orders were to completely destroy the target, nothing about their forces... Erin, surround them. _Albion,_ fire both Mega Particle Cannons immediately." Ordered Keith.

Following his command, the RX 105E Xi Gundam, also know as the XiE, quickly activated its mega beam cannon. The XiE was the successor to the Penelope, it was designed keeping space combat in mind. The XiE looked just like the Penelope except with a streamlined body, more thrusters than the Penelope that allow it to go faster in space and even on earth. The two long wings like structures on the back folded forward and sat on the shoulders as rail guns. Due to the fast battle design of the XiE, it only fashioned a mega beam cannon instead of a particle cannon as the latter took too long to charge.

Then, two large blue beams shot past them and into the giant asteroid. Seconds before impact, the beams hit a large cylindrical beam shield, but due to the intensity of the attack, they gave way in seconds. As the particle cannons from the _Albion_ hit the factory, the asteroid blew up in a gigantic explosion. In the wake of the blast about 3/4th of the factory was left. From that bit, 15 DOM Troopers took off and charged the Gundams in desperation. Reacting instantly the Lancelot and Epyon charged them. Taking out his lance, Keith flew straight into the first mobile suit, impaling it in the chest. Then drawing his lance back as the suit blew up, Keith flew back and fired his beam rifles at 2 other suits, hitting them dead in the cockpits, destroying them.

Cecile used the Epyon's tail to lash at an unsuspecting enemy. The laser edges on the tail bits sliced through the suits armor as if it was made of butter. Next she split the tail into 8 arrow head shaped bits and used the Psycommu system to simultaneously mutilate and destroy 5 attacking DOM Troopers.

Boosting all of his thrusters, Erin blasted to 3X acceleration instantly. As he flew past a DOM trooper, he dispatched him with a clean cut of his beam saber. Next, he used both of his rail guns to take out another DOM Trooper foolish enough to charge him. Finally, for a big finish, he used his Mega Beam Cannon. As he did that, the rail guns charged bright green then both guns resonated as their charges linked and fired as one giant beam cannon. The beam hit 2 suits blowing them to smithereens while it destroyed 2 more that wandered too close to the attack. With 2 remaining suits, the _Albion _fired again. But this time, the attack was accompanied by the Mega Particle cannons from the Epyon and Lancelot. The attack completely destroyed the factory, while the mobile suit attack managed to disintegrate the remaining DOM Troopers. Then as the debris spread out, two space shuttles shot out into space. Immediately the XiE shot past the Lancelot in pursuit. Within seconds he covered the distance, and just as he was about to cut down one of the shuttles, Keith said, "WAIT!..."

Erin swung but managed to slow down just enough to let the shuttle fly by unscathed. "Why did you stop me?" asked Erin, confused by the sudden strange order.

Keith replied, "Because, thats the whole point of this mission... Secretive publicity..."

* * *

><p><strong>End Note : Mega Particle Cannons are stronger than Mega Beam Cannons. Beam Cannons are the anti-ship variant of the Hyper Impulse Cannons, but without the Anti-Phase-Shift properties.<strong>

**All mobile suits, except the Eternal Freedom and Lancelot are real. Their specs can be found on the Gundam Wiki. I will post the specs in the subsequent chapters. Any questions pertaining to the story or any suggestions or comments are welcome in the reviews... **

**Thanks to all of the readers and the people who favorite-d and Alerted this story! Also, my Gratitude goes to, devil M, Haze4, Ahyare, Xanton, Ciel Li, Synbad2 and Zeta14 for all the support and feedback! Thanks for the help!**

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><p><strong> Ciel :<strong> I'm glad you like Kira's entry! Its not done yet! His real debut will be in the next chapter as he fights another Gundam! Hope you like it! Keep reading...

** Xanton :** I dont check grammar all that much as I usually publish in a hurry. I tried to check for errors on this one, Hope it was better! After Jan 30th I will have a lot more time on hand, so I promise to keep and dramatical errors at a minimum.

**Ahyare :** Thank You! Im soo glad you like the Eternal Freedom... Its only going to get better and better as they complete the suit... I really hope you liked Kira's confession! Make sure you tell me what you think about it! This is the 1st part of his confession... I have another one planned later on but they will be falling from the sky and into the sea at that point in time... (*Hint)

** devil M :** Thanks! Glad you like the story... This chapter marks the point where things heat up and the story moves faster from now on... I didn't plan on cliff hangars but when I split the last chapter into 2, that point seemed like a good place to cut... I didn't feel like this chapter was a cliff hangar... a bit of suspense maybe... Lemme know what you think about it...

** Haze4 :** I agree completely! It was abrupt but I wanted their reunion to end with his confession so I cut the last chapter there... Hope this chapter makes up for it... I hope Lacus was IN character during the meeting in Kira's room...

Since this is a romance, I cant help but make some characters a bit OOC at times... Keep reading!

** Zeta14 :** Yes, Kira will NOT be like a invincible GOD... Hope you know that by now... especially with the part where he has a seizure before falling asleep... But the Eternal Freedom is very, very powerful... Actually, it will be LATER on...


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